The Nature of Memory
by mangoaddict
Summary: Chris revelation story. When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?
1. When All is Said and Done

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Takes place right after _Little Monsters_. The sisters and Leo don't know that Chris is half-witch yet, but they do trust him somewhat. Will eventually be a Chris revelation story.

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter One: When All is Said and Done

_San Francisco, 2025_

"_Damn it!" The words burst from the young woman's lips as the energy ball collided with her shoulder. Reeling from the pain, she spun around in time to see the demon conjure another energy ball and smirk maliciously at her. _

"_Ready to dance, love?" the demon asked mockingly, the heavy British accent appearing out of place in the destruction of the city around them._

_Without thinking, the young woman flung her wrist forward, conjuring and releasing an athame in one fluid movement. The demon, startled by the attack, was forced to dodge the athame, and the energy ball in his hand fizzled out as he did so._

"_Ready," the woman bit out of the word, pain marring the pretty features of her face as she struggled to fight against the burning sensation spreading through her shoulder._

"_Well, then…" the demon replied, pulling himself back to his feet and eyeing his target wonderingly, "I'll lead, shall I?" He sprung forward, crossing the entire space between them and slamming into the woman with such force that the air was completely expelled from her body. The energy ball appeared again in the demon's hand, inches away from the woman's face._

_But the young woman fought back, rolling with the attack and using the demon's own momentum to know him off balance and tear herself away. She struggled backwards, out of breath, and silently cursed as the demon easily spun to face her once again. How had she lost her skills so completely that she could be bested by a demon?_

_There was nothing else for it. Knowing that she would not last through the fight, she pulled herself together long enough to shimmer away._

_The demon frowned at the suddenly empty air and shrugged. "Have it your way then, love. But you can't run forever."_

* * *

_Manor, present day_

Chris leaned over the Book of Shadows, flipping through the pages. He was so intent in his task that he did not notice Piper enter the attic from the top of the stairs and stare at him, a slight smile on her face. By the time he finally looked up, Piper had been standing there for a good five minutes, just watching him, waiting for him to notice her.

"Piper. How long have you been standing there?" Chris asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head absently as the eldest Charmed One walked over to him.

"Long enough to realize that you really need a hobby," Piper replied. She stopped in front of him, closing the cover of the Book and giving Chris a stern stare. "When was that last time you took a break?"

"When did you go into mother hen mode?" Chris shot back, rolling his eyes. "I'm a big boy, Piper, I can take care of myself. Besides, this is important." He reached for the Book again, but Piper raised her hands threateningly.

"Don't make me freeze you!"

Chris stopped and wondered abruptly how he would ever be able to explain anything to Piper if she did try to freeze him, and found out that, unlike other white-lighters, he didn't actually freeze. Wanting to avoid any chance of that happening, he gave an exaggerated sigh and said, "Fine. What do you want me to do instead?"

"Help me at P3," Piper said promptly. "I had some supplies delivered, and I have a lot of boxes that need to be unpacked."

"What am I, slave labor?" Chris asked hotly.

Piper gave him another stare. "I am letting you stay in the backroom at P3, aren't I?" she said pointedly. Without waiting for a response, she gestured for Chris to follow her and lead the way out of the attic.

Chris followed the woman who would one day be his mother, and wondered what exactly to make of all of this. She wasn't the way he remembered her. She was younger, and softer around the edges. Life had yet to take away everything that she ever cared about, and she still naively believed that she could somehow have a normal life. He wasn't sure if this innocence made her more endearing or more annoying.

His aunts, too, were different. Well, Paige was still quite a bit the same, obsessed with magic and saving innocents and finding herself through temp jobs. But Phoebe had been a true warrior, not this job-obsessed woman who rushed about, bailing on her family and her magical duties while trying to find love and happiness. It was having children that had done this to her, changed her from a carefree woman to a soldier who gave no quarter and refused to back down. He remembered her fierce protectiveness… and he remembered the way the demons had finally, viciously, conquered her. She had been the last of the Halliwell sisters to fall, and she'd taken almost every attacking demon with her.

And Leo… well, he hadn't seen much of the white-lighter… no, Elder… since the man had finally stopped being suspicious of him. It was strange to think he'd somehow earned his father's trust because if he was truly honest with himself, he had no reason to deserve it. But this Leo was a good father, as of yet untouched by the horrors of losing his family to evil and the world to the amoral beliefs of his older son.

He was pulled from his reminiscence by the sound of Paige's voice, floating to them from the kitchen.

"Piper? We don't have any food."

The youngest Charmed One appeared at the foot of the stairs, staring up at Piper as she descended to the first floor. She had crossed her arms over her chest and was staring at Piper in annoyance, clearly blaming her oldest sister for the lack of any real food in the house.

"You can always cook something yourself," Piper pointed out somewhat dryly.

Paige rolled her eyes. "That's _your_ job," she replied, and Chris had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at the annoyed expression on his mother's face.

"I beg your pardon?" Piper asked, her tone icy.

"I make the potions, you make the food, and Phoebe makes the…" Paige trailed off curiously. "I don't know what Phoebe makes," she admitted. "But you make the food and I make the potions. That's just the way it is."

"And how old are you, Paige?" Piper shot back, but the grin on her face belied her aggravated tone.

Before Paige had a chance to reply, a demon appeared into the room and threw a burst of fire at Piper. Chris, the fastest to react, leapt forward and tackled Piper to the ground. As the fire passed over their heads, he heard Paige calling out for the flames and redirecting them back at the demon. Chris looked up in time to see the demon reach out his hand and absorbed the fire back into his palm. Then he disappeared in a sudden flash of midnight blue light.

"That was… random," Paige commented as Chris helped pull Piper to her feet.

"Are you okay?" Chris asked in concern, eying Piper carefully.

"Yeah… I think so," Piper replied, brushing the dust from her pants. She looked at the spot the demon had stood moments before and sighed. "Anyone recognize our friendly visitor?"

"No, but it looks like he's back," Paige said, her gaze sliding past Piper and into the sunroom. "And he brought friends."

Sure enough, the demon had returned, this time surrounded by several others. They all wore the same outfit, a long dark robe that hung all the way to the ground. Their faces were shadowed by hoods, but their eyes glowed and eerie blue.

One of the demons attacking, throwing a fireball which Piper froze in midair. Paige forced the fireball back towards the demons at the same time that Piper started blowing them up with well directed flicks of her wrist.

"Chris, get Phoebe!" Piper called over her shoulder, and Chris nodded, prepared to orb out.

But before he had a chance to leave the Manor, one of the demons shimmered in front of him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and slamming him against the wall. His head snapped back, smashing into the hard wood, and his vision momentarily blurred. Survival instincts taking over, used his telekinesis to shove the demon away from him. The demon snarled and attacked again, catching him tightly around the throat and depriving him of air. Chris waved his hand at a lamp on the table near Paige, and it flew into the air, colliding with the demon. Howling in rage and pain, the demon let go of Chris, giving Piper the opportunity to vanquish it.

Chris groaned and fell to his knees. Looking across the room, he saw Piper now battling two demons while Paige tried her best to avoid the attacks of another three. He needed to get Phoebe, but he also couldn't leave the sisters alone for fear that they might not still be alive when he got back.

It happened in a split-second, Piper twisting away from a demon, turning her side to him, giving the other an opportunity to attack her while her back was turned. The athame was leaving the demon's hand just as Chris saw it all, and time slowed to a crawl.

"NO!" Chris screamed, flinging out a hand and sending the demon next to Piper sailing through the air. He stumbled to his feet, all thoughts of getting Phoebe forgotten, and faced the demons attacking his mother and aunt. "Stay away from them," he snarled, crossing the room and grabbing the first demon by the throat. Using his telekinesis to choke one of the demons attacking Paige, he crushed the other demon's throat with the palm of his free hand. Both demons struggled and were gone, crying out before erupting into flames and turning into nothing more than ashes on the floor.

Piper blew up one of the demons and Paige sent a fragment of broken wood into another.

There was only one demon remaining, but he ignored the sisters and focused his rage on Chris. He had caught Chris by the throat and was slowly strangling him with Chris fought to break free. The young witch-lighter's face was turning a pale blue as he gasped for air. Piper instantly tried to freeze them, and the demon stopped moving. Chris, however, unable to freeze, still struggled in the demon's now –frozen vice-like grip. As his vision turned back from lack of oxygen, he could just barely see Piper's confused and then suspicious expression, and had the brief thought that it was ironic how, only moments after wondering what Piper would say if she ever tried to freeze him and realized she couldn't, he was actually facing that _exact_ situation.

Paige lifted a hand and called, "Chris!" and Chris felt his body disappear in a sudden rush of white and blue lights. He reappeared in a crumpled heap at Paige's feet, and saw Piper blow up the demon just as the lack of oxygen finally caught up with him and the entire world faded into darkness.

Paige and Piper both stared at Chris' unconscious form, then Paige voiced what they were both thinking.

"Why didn't he freeze?"

"I… I don't know," Piper said in a whisper, eyes wide. "Unless he's… he's…"

"A witch," Paige finished the sentence. "The telekinesis he just used, the way he fought, the fact that he didn't freeze. Oh, God, Piper. He's half-witch, half-white-lighter. Like me…" She trailed off and glanced over at her sister. "Why didn't he tell us?"

"Why doesn't he tell us a lot of things?" Piper asked suspiciously, bending down next to him. She reached out and checked his pulse. It was faint, but still there. He was barely breathing. "Leo!" she called. Glancing up at Paige, she said, "Leo can heal him and them maybe we can get some answers."

The Elder orbed in at the sound of Piper's panicked call and looked around quickly, assessing the situation. "What happened?" he asked as he noted the destroyed furniture, the scorch marks on the wall.

"Questions later," Piper directing, nodding towards Chris. "Heal now."

Leo quickly rushed to the young white-lighter's side and extended his hands, watching the golden glow spread out and seep into Chris' skin. Slowly, ever so slowly, his breathing became deeper and more even, his heartbeat louder, the color returning to his face.

But he didn't wake up.

"What's wrong?" Paige asked in growing concern. "Why isn't he healing?"

"He is healing," Leo replied quietly. "He's just… I think he's just tired. I can't heal exhaustion. He just needs to rest, his body needs to recuperate." He glanced over at Paige and shrugged. As much as he had mistrusted the white-lighter from the future before, he somehow didn't now. He had resigned himself to the fact that Chris was only there to help, and that whatever he had done, it had been for Wyatt's benefit.

And could he really stay angry at Chris if that was his ultimate goal? Leo would sell his own soul if it meant keeping his son safe.

He waved his hand, orbing Chris to the sofa in the sunroom. Then he turned to Piper and Paige. "What happened here?"

"A lot of demons attacked," Paige said dryly, "and our white-lighter is apparently part witch."

"_What_?"

"He has telekinesis and he doesn't freeze," Piper said. "You do the math." She walked over to the sunroom, pausing next to the sofa and staring down at Chris' still form. His chest was rising and falling with each heavy inhalation and exhalation of breath, and for a moment, he looked so innocent and so young that she almost forgot to be mad at him.

And that's when it hit her. If he was half-witch, then he wasn't dead. Which meant however old he appeared now, that was how old he actually was, not how old he had been when he died.

He really was just a boy.

"When he wakes up, I'm going to kick his…" Paige didn't finish the sentence, however, because the sudden cries of her nephew alerted her to Wyatt's distress. She, Piper, and Leo all turned as one towards the stairs that lead to the nursery. Leo grabbed Piper's arm and orbed, and Paige started to follow.

"No," Leo directed as his body broke into tiny orbs, "stay with Chris in case the demons come back." Then he and Piper were gone, and Paige stared reluctantly at her neurotic white-lighter, and wondered who exactly he was.

When Leo and Piper condensed into solid form in the nursery, they saw Wyatt standing in his crib with his shield up, crying softly as a large demon, dressed the same as the others that had attacked, loomed over him, athame in hand.

"Hey," Piper growled, flicking her wrists towards the demon. He threw himself to the side, barely missing her blast of power, and the energy ball flung from his hand towards Leo. The Elder orbed out and reappeared a moment later, after the energy ball had passed harmlessly threw where he had stood.

The demon stared at the two of them, then shimmered away. Piper rushed to her son just as Wyatt dropped the shield, and lifted him into her arms.

"Is he okay?" Leo asked worriedly, watching his ex-wife and son. "Is he hurt?"

"No," Piper said. "He's just a little scared of the big, bad demon, aren't you?" she cooed to her the child.

Wyatt giggled happily now that his parents were here and he was safe.

"Guys?" Paige's voice floated up to them from the floor below. "I think Chris is waking up."

Leo led the way down the stairs. Piper still held Wyatt as she followed her ex-husband into the sunroom. Paige was leaning over the sofa, watching as Chris tossed back and forth, eyes fluttering awake. Piper slid past Paige so that she was standing closest to Chris, and Leo and Paige instinctively flanked her, waiting.

Time for the interrogation to begin.

And they weren't taking 'future consequences' for an answer anymore.

Chris opened his eyes fully and pushed himself into a sitting position, glancing around at the other occupants of the room. His eyes settled first on Piper, and seemed to stay there for a moment, contemplating her face. He turned his attention to Leo, then to Paige, and lastly to Wyatt. Finally, he looked back at Piper, and they all saw the confusion on his face. Confusion and…

Was that fear?

"What happened?" Chris asked worriedly, his tone unnaturally high. "Where am I?"

The second question threw Piper, and she raised an eyebrow. "You're in the Manor, Chris. Don't you recognize it?"

"Chris?" Chris whispered, mouthing the word, letting it role off his tongue. He rubbed the back of his head instantly and looked around the room. His face paled at the destruction he saw, and against the confusion appeared in his eyes. "What happened…? Who…? I don't remember…"

"The fight, Chris," Piper said, her patience growing thin. "Demons attacked and…"

"Demons?" Chris echoed sharply, his voice even higher. "What do you mean?"

"Cut the crap," Piper snarled. "You lied to us. Do you really think pretending not to remember is going to get you out of trouble?"

"Lied? About what?" Chris asked.

"Being half-witch," Paige snapped, irritated. "You know that telekinetic thing you did…? Well, we did _actually_ notice." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Witch?" Chris asked.

Piper was about to respond when Leo laid a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, his eyes still fixed on Chris. Piper gave Leo a searching stare, but lapsed into silence. She unconsciously shifted Wyatt in her arms. Paige, too, remained quiet, giving Leo a questioning look.

"Chris? Who am I?" Leo asked shrewdly.

Chris stared at him blankly, then asked, "How the hell should I know?" He paused, eyes narrowing suspiciously, and then demanded, "Who are you? And where am I?" When he didn't get an answer, he added, "Kidnapping's a serious crime. Gets you twenty-five to life. Answer the damn question!"

"Or you'll what?" Leo asked, he alone understanding and accepting what had happened. "Go to the police? Pretty difficult to tell them you've been kidnapped when you don't even remember your own name." Chris didn't say anything, caught in his bluff, and Leo asked, "What do you remember?"

Chris swallowed nervously and stood slowly, unfolding his tall figure. In a voice barely above a whisper, he replied, "Nothing."

* * *

_Abandoned Warehouse, 2025_

"_Come on, pretty one," the demon called as he squinted through the darkness of the warehouse. The light of the moon shone through the long-since shattered windows, casting shadows along the far wall. Everything was covered in heavy layers of dust and broken glass. The warehouse, once a stronghold for the Resistance, had been the sight of a battle almost two years ago. The magical battle had almost caused the place to collapse, and it had been left alone ever since._

_It was a good place to hide._

_Picking his way through the labyrinth of debris, the demon licked his lips and carefully sorted through the different scents floating in the air. He could practically taste it, the barest hint of blood. He smirked to himself as he traced the smell towards its source._

"_Well, if you want to play hide and seek…" He glanced around. Without access to the white-lighter's in the Resistance, the witch would have no way of healing the burn of her shoulder from the energy ball he'd thrown at her when they'd last met. She'd be weak and in pain… an easier target._

_But still, he had to be careful. The other's had underestimated her, even Wyatt himself hadn't realized what a threat she could be. No, he needed to proceed with caution._

_He heard it, the tiniest echo of a footstep on cement, and spun around just in time to see the athame flying threw the air towards him. He side-stepped it and looked back at the witch as she shimmered away._

_He sighed and shook his head, then reached for the athame that had clattered harmlessly to the floor behind him. He stared at it, the ornately carved handle, the deadly blade. She was good, better than he had expected._

_This game of cat-and-mouse had stretched out over the course of several days now. He slid the athame into his own pocket and smiled grimly. She could run all she wanted. Sooner or later…_

_She couldn't outrun him forever._


	2. Questions and Answers

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Two: Questions and Answers

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

"_This is impossible," the girl snapped irritably, looking down at the maps in front of her. "There is no way we will ever have enough information to…" She trailed off abruptly and glanced up as the door to the meeting room swung open and a man appeared. "Daryl," she greeted with a slightly forced smile._

"_I heard a funny rumor that there was a meeting," the man named Daryl said casually, his eyes hardening as he took in the occupants of the room. "I guess my invitation got lost in the mail."_

"_It's not really a meeting," the girl replied, glancing at the others around her. "We just all happened to be in the same place and decided to strategize." She looked up at the other man, daring him to contradict her. For a moment, no in the room dared even to breathe as they watched the two face off silently._

_Finally, Daryl said, "I see Cole and Bianca aren't here. I guess they just weren't around when you wanted to… strategize." _

_His words, which had been meant as a simple barb, had a different effect than expected. The girl met his eyes then looked away, and said slowly, almost in embarrassment, "Cole isn't here right now. He's undercover again."_

_Daryl accepted this is silence, knowing it was true. He was the one who had ordered the mission sending Cole back into the Underworld just last week. It was unlikely that Cole would be back by now, it was too complicated to take only a mere seven days._

_But the embarrassment… That was something else._

"_Where's Bianca?" Daryl asked, a hunch growing as no one in the room answered the question. He took a threatening step forward. "Where is she?" he demanded angrily, raising his voice. It was stupid, this was a room full of magical beings, but he had vowed to Chris that he would do everything to protect the witch-lighter's fiancée, and hell would freeze over before he broke that promise._

_The girl shrugged. "I don't know," she answered calmly, vaguely. "Around."_

"_What did you do?" Daryl asked, aghast. She didn't answer, and he crossed the room suddenly, seizing her arm in a crushing grip, refusing to release her even as she raised viciously angry eyes to look at him. "Prudence Melinda Halliwell," he snarled. "What. Did. You. Do?"_

* * *

_Manor, Present Day_

Chris shivered slightly, watching the other three carefully. The red-haired woman seemed to be afraid of something, although he wasn't sure what. The man was staring at him thoughtfully, as though trying to figure out the answer to some strange riddle. The woman with the long dark hair, still holding the blonde child in her arms, had both eyebrows raised at him. But there was something about her, something he couldn't identify, something that made him want to trust her, even though she didn't look like she trusted him.

"Come on, Chris, you didn't hit your head that hard, did you?" the brunette asked, her tone disbelieving. She glanced at the blonde man. "I thought you healed him?"

"I did," the man replied defensively.

"Oh, you call this healed?" the brunette snapped. "He doesn't even know who he is!"

"What happened during the fight? Did he get hit by a potion or anything?" the blonde man asked curiously, glancing to the redhead.

Chris felt a sudden surge of annoyance that they were standing there talking about like he was even in the room. He didn't remember who he was, but that didn't mean he was deaf. He could hear every word they said, and somehow, the fact that his opinion didn't seem to matter to them was both strangely familiar and heart-wrenchingly painful.

"No, none that I saw. He got strangled, looked like the demon wanted to suffocate him. And he was thrown into the wall a couple times," the redhead replied. She shrugged, glancing to the toddler. "What attacked Wyatt? Was it the same demon?"

"Yes," the brunette replied.

"Uh, guys? You do know that demons aren't actually real, right?" Chris said pointedly, trying to regain their attention. "Just like dragons and unicorns and fairies. They're all pretend." He drawled the words, hoping at the very least to get some acknowledgement by annoying them.

But the brunette just waved her hand at him, gesturing for him to be silent, and said to the man, "If it isn't a potion, you should be able to heal him."

"I told you, I did heal him!" the man cried, frustrated. "Look, if he was strangled during the fight, he must have not gotten oxygen to his brain for an extended period of time. That added to the trauma of being thrown around the room… His brain might have decided that it needed time to recover and make sure it was working properly, and in the mean time, it shut off the excess parts so that his mind wouldn't be using too much energy."

"Excess?" the brunette asked incredulously. "You're calling his memories an excess?"

"It makes sense," the redhead interrupted thoughtfully. "I mean, better to lose memories then the ability to… I don't know… walk, or talk, or breathe, or orb, or whatever…"

"Orb?" Chris asked, noting that it was the only verb out of the list that he didn't recognize. Actually, orb wasn't even a verb. An orb was a spherical object. How did someone have, or lose, the ability to orb? That didn't even make sense.

"It happens a lot, you know," the redhead added. "I saw it in social work. Children blocking out entire days or weeks of their past, not wanting to remember the horrible things that happened to them." She gave Chris a long look, then said, "If the future really is as dark as he says, then his brain probably doesn't like remembering it. That combined with the lack of oxygen and the physical damage from hitting the wall…"

"So how does he get his memories back?" the brunette asked impatiently. "He kind of needs them if we're going to figure out who's after Wyatt." She glanced down at the boy she was holding, the one that Chris had now deduced was Wyatt, and most likely her son.

"My guess is he can't do it by any magical means," the blonde man replied. "He's going to have to get them back the mortal way."

"Which is…?" the redhead prompted.

"Time," the man replied. "He needs time for his mind to heal."

"Great," the brunette snapped. "Just what I need. A neurotic white-lighter from the future with too many secrets that he can't even remember anymore!"

Her words caused a rush of pain to course through Chris' body, but he didn't know why.

"Here, you take Wyatt Up There until we sort this all out," the brunette said, handing the little boy to the man. "Paige," she addressed the other woman, "go get Phoebe. Fill her in on everything." She cast a wary look at Chris and finished, "I'll stay here with future boy and see if I can help him remember anything."

"Who's Phoebe?" Chris asked, but as expected, he did not receive an answer.

"Piper," the man said, pulling Wyatt into his arms, "this might be one of those things that is suppose to happen. Maybe Chris needs this… for himself and for Wyatt." He didn't wait for a reply, but disappeared in a brilliant rush of tiny white dots.

Chris gaped at the spot the man had stood, and began backing away from the two women. "Who are you? _What_ are you?" he spat. "Stay away from me!"

"Chris, calm down," the woman called Piper said.

"Calm down?" Chris mimicked. "What the hell did he just do?" He flung his hand wildly towards the now empty space the man had stood.

"He orbed," the other woman, Paige, said cheerfully.

Piper shot Paige an annoyed look. "Not helping," she snapped. "Just go get Phoebe, I'll take care of this."

Paige shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said, and she too disappeared in the same swirl of dots.

Chris spun around and started towards the entryway that lead to what he could only assume was the front door. He suddenly had the wild thought that perhaps he was trapped in some type of horror-movie, and every door he opened would just lead back to the same place. Before he could test this theory, however, the vase on the table near him exploded into thousands of tiny shards that seemed to freeze midair, hovering all around him.

He turned slowly, fearfully, to look back at the only woman left in the room. Piper had her hands extended in front of her, arms at chest height, and a serious expression on her face.

"You sure you really want to run?"

Chris swallowed. "How did you…?"

"Blow up the vase? Or freeze it?" Piper asked. She looked at Chris for a moment, debating what exactly to say, and then decided to tell him, "I'm a witch. A _good_ witch."

"Magic isn't real," Chris retorted instantly.

Piper smiled gently, reminiscently. "You know, that's what I told myself. Neither Prue nor I believed Phoebe after she said she'd cast the spell that gave us our powers."

Chris glanced sideways at the door. He debated making a run for it, but that didn't seem like such a good idea right now. After all, if Piper could do that to the vase, did that also me she could do it to him? He didn't really want to find out the answer to that question.

Instead, he stalled, asking, "Who's Phoebe? And Prue? And who were the other two that were here? And the kid?"

Piper raised an eyebrow, still giving him a strange look, and he knew that this was something he should have known. As though these people were somehow important to him.

"Paige, the redhead," Piper began, "is my younger half-sister. The man, Leo, is my ex-husband and the father of my son, the little boy, Wyatt. Phoebe is my other sister. She's also younger than me, and she's at work right now. Paige went to get her."

She didn't say anything about the other woman she had mentioned, Prue, and that was something that Chris noted. But he sensed that it was not a good idea to push her on it, so he asked instead, "And are you all… witches?" It was hard to say the word, hard to even pretend to believe that witches were real.

"Phoebe and I are," Piper replied. "Leo is an angel. My son and Paige are both half-angel, half-witch." She gave Chris a funny look, then added, "And apparently so are you."

"_What_?"

"We were fighting demons before you lost your memory," Piper explained, gesturing to the mess around her. "We all thought you were an angel because you told us you were." Her voice hardened and she glared at him. "Turns out you lied. You used telekinesis. A witch power."

"Uh…" Chris hesitated, almost wondering if he should apologize for doing something he couldn't even remember. Then he remembered that this woman was calling him an angel-witch and explaining that magic really did exist, and he shook his head. "You're lying."

"No, that's your job," Piper retorted, still bitter.

"This doesn't make sense," Chris protested, but again some sixth sense was telling him that this woman could be trusted. Maybe not the others, but Piper… she wouldn't lie to him. She wouldn't hurt him. Would she?

He ran a hand through his hair and glanced at the still frozen shards of vase. Why did he have these feelings? Did he know this woman?

"Are we… how do I know you? How are we connected?" Chris asked at last.

Piper snorted. "Well, you told us you were a white-lighter." When Chris gave her a confused look, she explained, "It's another word for angel. Anyway, you said you came back from the future, but I suppose that could be a lie as well." She gave Chris a quick look, then flicked her wrists at the shards of glass and they all fell to the ground around the started witch-lighter. "You said you were here to save Wyatt from some unknown future evil."

"I'm from the _future_? How is that even possible?"

"Magic," Piper replied simply.

Chris stared at Piper, then felt the almost uncontrollable urge to get as far away from all of this as possible. He wanted to be somewhere safe, a place where magic didn't exist and he wasn't listening to a stranger tell him that he was part-angel. A picture came to mind; a burst of sunlight falling across a white marble bench, the flash of an angel statue and several tall columns, the explosion of tiny flowers poking their heads through the stiff dirt and grass.

It was safe there.

He didn't even know how it happened. Something inside him shifted, pulling him apart at the seams, and the next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of this arboretum, next to the marble bench. A feeling of peace and love flooded through him, reminding him of memories he could just barely remember, glimpses of images that flitted through his mind and faded away again.

Back at the Manor, Piper blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what had happened. If her white-lighter really had no memory of magic, how could he possibly have orbed? She did the only thing she could think of, the only thing that made sense at that moment.

"Leo!"

The shower of white lights that formed into her husband was almost immediate. Leo looked around in concern, half expecting to see demons leaping from the framework or Paige or Phoebe on the ground, covered in their own blood. What he saw was Piper, unhurt, standing alone in the middle of the sunroom.

"He orbed," Piper cried, almost hysterically. "How did he _orb_?"

"He lost his memories, not his powers," Leo replied, less concerned. "It was probably instinctual." He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, then announced, "He's at a… a garden, I think. He's alone. And he doesn't seem worried or anything. More like… content." He slanted a look at Piper. "What happened?"

"I was talking to him after you took Wyatt and left. Trying to explain about magic and convince him of who we are. And that we're good." She saw Leo give the shattered vase a curious look, and flushed deep red. "I… uh… demonstrated my power." She saw Leo raise an eyebrow at the words, but he didn't ask questions and she didn't elaborate on the subject. "Anyway," she continued, "I told him he was part witch and here from the future to save Wyatt, and he freaked."

Leo nodded. "You just scared him with everything you said. If he really doesn't remember anything about his past, then that was a lot of information for him to take in. He must have orbed away because his body knew that he wanted to escape."

"Why did he go to this garden?" Piper pressed as she walked into the kitchen to get the broom.

"I don't know. Maybe it means something to him, in the future. And he subconsciously knew that he liked it there… felt safe there," Leo called to Piper.

The eldest sister returned a moment later with the broom and sighed. "Well, I'm going to clean up this mess. Why don't you try to go get future boy and bring him back here. Before he gets lost or hurt or something."

Leo nodded again and orbed away.

Piper stared at the mess around her, then glanced up at the ceiling. "Why do you always have to make things hard for us?" she yelled angrily.

But even as she said the words, she couldn't help but think that no matter how hard this was for her, it was probably so much more difficult for Chris.

* * *

_San Francisco Arboretum, Present Day_

He felt the man's presence before he saw him and remembered what Piper had said. His name was Leo, he was Wyatt's father, and he was Piper's ex-husband. He sat on the bench, running his hand over the marble, and trying to sort out his conflicted feelings towards this man.

Leo took a seat next to Chris on the bench. "I'm Leo," he said by way of introduction.

"I know," Chris replied. "Piper told me. You're an angel."

Leo smiled a little sadly at Chris' words. "Why did you come here?" he asked, glancing around the arboretum. It was pretty, he would give it that much. But it didn't seem any different from all the other small arboretums that dotted the city. Why was it special?

"I feel safe here," Chris replied. "Happy." He glanced quickly at Leo, then looked down at his own hands. "Do you know why?"

"No," Leo answered regretfully. "You aren't really forthcoming with details about your life. We don't know that much about you."

"Do you know why I don't like you?" Chris asked abruptly. As soon as the words were out of his mouth and he saw the way Leo stiffened quickly, he regretted what he had said. Hastening to explain, he continued, "I feel very conflicted. Like I don't like you, but I want to. Or maybe I just want you to like me. I don't understand it…" He bit his lip, worried. "Sorry, I shouldn't have…"

"We started out on the wrong foot," Leo interrupted Chris. "I… I didn't like you. I didn't trust you." He hesitated, wondering how much he should reveal. But, for Wyatt's sake, he wanted to at least attempt to get along with Chris. "I blamed you for something that happened to me."

"Was I responsible?" Chris asked, and he almost dreaded hearing the answer.

"Yes," Leo said firmly. "I never had the proof, but you… I know you were behind it." He gave Chris a searching glance, then said, "I forgave you, though."

"Why? If I did something, if it was so bad…" Chris stood quickly, stepping away from Leo and letting his eyes wander to the angel statue. "Piper doesn't like me very much either. I don't think… I don't think even I like this person I apparently am."

Leo stared at Chris' face, so haggard and drawn and filled with sorrow. He looked so young and so lost that the Elder found himself completely unable to still hold a grudge for what had happened in Valhalla. His inner angels and demons had a brief and bitter battle, and the angels won.

"You're annoying and sarcastic and neurotic, but you're here for a good reason. And you're brave and determined and focused." Leo stood up as well and said, "Apparently, in the future, some evil gets to my son and destroys him. The entire world is destroyed as well. You haven't given us any details but… I do believe you. I believe that you really just want to save us all. Maybe I don't agree with your methods, maybe I wasn't pleased by how they negatively impacted my family and I, but… I don't think you are a bad person." He stopped, waiting until Chris had turned to look at him, before adding, "I think you're just a boy who has the entire weight of the future world on his shoulders, and is doing the best he can to deal with it."

He smiled encouragingly at Chris and silently wondered where all the caring feelings had suddenly come from. But there was just something about Chris, about the way he acted, how confused and scared and hurt he looked, that brought out the parental instinct in Leo. When he had had his memories, he'd been cocky and arrogant and annoying and so incredibly difficult to like.

But this Chris was just a boy in trouble.

"Come on, let's go back to the Manor. Paige and Phoebe are probably there by now. We can figure out what to do next," Leo suggested. He took Chris' hand, unsure if the boy would be able to figure out how to control his own orbing, and transported the two of them back to the house.

* * *

_Manor, Present Day_

"Wait, wait, wait," Phoebe said, holding up a hand to stall her older sister. "You're saying that Chris is half-witch? And he doesn't have his memories?" She looked from Paige to Piper, hoping one of them would tell her that this was all just a mistake or a misunderstanding of some sort. But their silence only served to confirm that they were telling the truth, and the empath let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Why isn't Leo back yet?" Paige asked. "I thought you said he was just going to get Chris?"

Piper nodded. "He was," she said with a slight frown. "But Chris doesn't have his memories, so maybe he wants to take it slowly. Maybe Chris is putting up a fight."

"I really hope he isn't exposing magic," Phoebe said worriedly. She ran a hand through her short hair and glanced around the room. The destruction from the fight was still obvious, and it chilled her to know how close her sisters had come to dying. Chris' witch half was an uneasy revelation to accept, but if it had in fact saved Piper and Paige, than she was at least a little relieved.

Before either Piper or Paige could respond to the statement, a shower of white lights signaled the arrival of Chris and Leo. The younger stepped away from the Elder quickly and turned to Phoebe. Eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion as he took in the other witch's appearance.

"You must be Phoebe," Chris ventured, and Phoebe nodded.

"You really don't remember anything," Phoebe mused. She slanted a look at her older sister and said, "It's gone, Piper. All his memories. I can feel it…"

Piper turned to Leo and questioned, "Feel it? Is that an empath power?"

"Empath?" Chris asked. He didn't know what that was, but he knew what empathy was, so he could guess what Piper was referring to. He was therefore a little unnerved to realize that the middle sister… Phoebe… probably had the ability to sense his emotions.

He wondered if they could hear his thoughts also.

"Probably," Leo mused, giving Phoebe a searching stare. "Memories tend to influence our emotions more than we realize. Without his memories, his emotions would be different… less vivid."

"Also, he's feeling a lot of confusion and helplessness right now," Phoebe added helpfully.

Chris grimaced and asked in annoyance, "Do you always make a habit of talking about people like they aren't actually in the room?"

"Quiet, Chris, we're trying to figure this out," Piper said dismissively, and Chris had a sudden sense of déjà vu he couldn't explain.

Leo tried to hide a smile at the belligerent look in Chris' eyes. Turning his attention back to Piper, he said, "I don't think you can really help Chris with this. He needs to remember on his own. In the meantime, focus on the demons that attacked you and Wyatt."

"He's right," Paige conceded, shooting a look at Piper.

"Fine. Go check with the other Elders, see if they know anything about the attack," Piper instructed Leo. "Paige, make up an all-purpose vanquishing potion. I'll check for the demons in the Book of Shadows."

Leo orbed away while Paige walked to the kitchen to make the potion.

"What about me?" Phoebe asked.

Piper glanced over at Chris. "Talk to Chris. Explain whatever you can. Maybe that will help him remember…" She gave a slightly apologetic shrug to Phoebe, who looked less than thrilled with her assignment, before heading towards the stairs that lead up to the attic.

Chris glanced at this newcomer, sizing her up. He didn't know where the defensive instincts came from, but something in the back of his mind kept telling him that he couldn't relax, he needed to stay on his guard. Who knew where the next threat was coming from?

"I'm not going to hurt you, Chris," the woman… the _witch_… named Phoebe said, clearly picking up on his emotions. Then she gave a wry grim and added, "I think I like this version of you. When you had your memories, you were so good at keeping barriers up around you mind I could never sense anything from you. Now… you're practically an open book."

"Stay out of my feelings," Chris snapped, irritated.

Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "Make me," she challenged, and Chris reacted unconsciously to her daring tone.

He wasn't really sure what he had done. He just pictured her inside his mind, and used all his mental strength to throw her out of it, slamming up what he imagined to be heavy brick walls in between her and his thoughts.

Phoebe doubled over suddenly, steadying herself on the wall. She took a slow breath and gave Chris a wary glance. "What was that for?"

"What did I do?" Chris asked, now scared. Had he hurt her? He was upset with her prying, but he certainly hadn't meant to cause her any harm.

Phoebe gave him a look. She could still sense some of his emotions, but they were fainter now, as though he'd hidden them from her. Still, even the merest glimpses that she was receiving now were more than what she had ever gotten from him before.

"You pushed me out of your emotions," Phoebe explained. "It was a little… rough." She saw the look of instant regret, followed quickly by fear, that graced Chris' face, and realization struck. He was terrified that they'd kick him out, not because he didn't want to leave, but because he had nowhere to go. This was the safest place he could be right now.

Chris turned away from her, muttering an apology as he sat down on the sofa. "I didn't mean… I'm not really able to control it… right now…"

"Don't worry about it," Phoebe said reassuringly. "It's not a big deal. Anyway, we're not going to kick you out. I don't know why you would think that." She took a seat in the chair across from him, and tilted her head to the side, silently asking for an explanation.

Chris shrugged. "I get the feeling that I'm not really welcome here. Or… maybe just not well-liked."

Phoebe chuckled dryly. "I guess you could say that." She saw the upset look on Chris' face and continued, "It isn't that you aren't liked, Chris. We just… we don't really know what to think of you. You can be very trying at times at… you're here for a good reason, we do know that." Then her eyes narrowed, "Although you did apparently lie to us about something rather significant."

Chris swallowed. "I don't know why I didn't tell you I was part-witch," he said softly, wishing he didn't feel so guilty for something he couldn't even understand.

"You're sorry, aren't you?" Phoebe asked. She could feel some of the guilt he felt.

"I don't know what to feel," Chris admitted. "But I…" He looked at Phoebe, then let his gaze wander to the stairs that Piper had disappeared up just a few minutes before. "I trust you three. And Leo. I don't know why, I can't explain it, but… I just feel like I can trust you."

"Good," Phoebe replied. "Because you can." Normally, she would have been more upset to find out that Chris had lied to them. But she could sense some of his feelings, and instead of feeling a secretive and neurotic witch-lighter, she felt only the emotions of a scared, lost boy. She still had every intention of reading him the riot act for lying to them just as soon as he got his memories back, but for now…

For now, she would be nice.

"So… how exactly did I become a witch? And an angel?" Chris ventured.

"Well, generally people become white-lighters… um, angels… after they die," Phoebe started. "That's how Leo became one."

"Wait, I'm dead?" Chris demanded, suddenly finding this all ridiculously funny. Not only did he apparently have magic, he was also dead. Could this day get any stranger?

"Oh, I don't think you are," Phoebe said quickly. "You see, Leo is dead, so Wyatt, his son, inherited some of Leo's powers. But Wyatt himself isn't dead. He's just part angel."

"So my parents are like Piper and Leo? One is an angel and one is a witch?" Chris asked. Phoebe shrugged in reply, and Chris continued, "Does that make me half-dead?"

"No," Phoebe replied with a laugh. "I think it makes you very much alive."

"So… I'm from the future?"

Phoebe nodded. "Yes, although I can't really tell you much about that." She grimaced and added, "You're not really forthcoming with the details."

"Yeah, Leo said the same thing," Chris told the empath. "I take it that's a point of irritation between us?" He had the distinct feeling that it was his secretive nature that most annoyed the sisters. Of course, now that he didn't actually remember anything, there wasn't a single thing he could do to fix the situation.

"Hm," Phoebe said noncommittally. "But we do know you are here to save Wyatt. And the world."

"Why is Wyatt important?" Chris questioned. Leo had also told him that somehow the demon getting to Wyatt had brought about the destruction of the world. But it seemed so strange that everything would rely that much on a toddler, even one with magical powers.

"Oh, well…" Phoebe considered her options carefully, wondering what exactly to say. She didn't want to overload Chris with information, and learning about prophesies and the Charmed Ones might be too much. Still, perhaps it would help jog his memory…?

Chris waited patiently, getting the sudden feeling that whatever Phoebe was about to say, it was the crux of the matter. Wyatt was somehow intrinsically tied to his identity, as though the young boy was in fact his purpose for everything he had done in his life.

"My sisters and I are called the Charmed Ones," Phoebe said. "We're very powerful. And we were prophesized… One of our ancestors made a prophesy about the birth of three sisters and how they would be one of the greatest forces of Good in the world…" She stopped, shaking her head. "I don't think I am explaining this right."

"You're powerful and you're Good and you're prophesized," Chris summed up. "I'm with you so far. But what does this have to do with Wyatt?"

"Well, he's also prophesized. He's Twice Blessed, the son of a Charmed One and an Angel. And he's the reincarnation of King Arthur and the Heir to Excalibur and the Ultimate Power." Phoebe stopped again, seeing the look on Chris' face. "I know this is difficult to understand."

"No, I get it…" Chris answered quietly. He did understand… sort of. As Phoebe spoke, he had suddenly had the strange sensation of knowing all this already. And instead of being reassured by the fact that there was someone with almost unlimited power who was the guardian of Good and whatnot, he was dismayed to find that the idea scared him. Something nagged at the back of his mind, telling him that this was not good, that Wyatt was… different.

He didn't speak his fears out loud. He knew that he shouldn't, although, again, he didn't know where that knowledge came from.

"Anyway, harming him would shift the balance between Good and Evil and screw up the world. Demons are always attacking us," Phoebe said, cutting into his turbulent thoughts.

"It's a miracle none of you have died," Chris replied, and Phoebe started at his statement.

"Yeah," she whispered, her eyes taking on a faraway look. For a moment, she seemed to forget that he was even there, caught up in her own memories. Then she looked at him again, brining herself back to the present. "Whatever gets to Wyatt in the future, you're determined to stop it. You send us on demon vanquishes all the time. It drives us nuts, especially Piper, but it is to protect Wyatt, to keep him safe. She and Leo want that, more than anything."

"What happened to Piper and Leo?" Chris asked, not realizing he was touching a sore subject. "I mean, why did they split up?"

Piper, who had already managed to find the demons in the Book and was bringing it downstairs, heard his question and couldn't help but answer in an acidic tone, "Oh, you thought it would be fun to break us up." Although she knew it was unfair to blame Chris for everything that had happened, regardless of whether or not he remembered it, she couldn't quite keep herself from being so annoyed at him.

Phoebe gave her sister a pointed look, and Piper sighed, mentally telling herself that she needed to be a bit more understanding of Chris.

Still, he was the one who got Leo promoted to an Elder, and that was why the two of them split up…

She dropped the Book onto Phoebe's lap, still open to the entry. "They're lower-level demons. Probably just making a bid for power. Unfortunately, they have the ability to absorb energy from an individual, making their victim weaker."

"So Wyatt would be a target because he has the most magical energy," Phoebe concluded. "We're going to need to keep him out of the way until we get rid of them." She scanned the entry. "It doesn't say how to vanquish them."

"I was able to blow them up," Piper answered.

"But it is an entire clan, Piper. It would take far too long to vanquish each of them one by one." Phoebe glanced up at the ceiling and said, "Hopefully Leo will know of something. Otherwise, I think we're going to have to find their lair and attack them when they're all together."

Chris watched the two of them talk, and felt something burning in his throat. Piper's harsh words bothered him more than he's like to admit, but he could also tell that he had never wanted to break up Piper and Leo. Whatever he had done at the time, _that_ had never been his intention.

Piper nodded in agreement, then said, "In the meantime, maybe you should take Chris over to P3? If he looked through the backroom there, maybe it would trigger a memory?"

Phoebe gestured to the kitchen and said, "Paige could just orb him over. It would be faster."

"What's P3?" Chris asked, and wondered idly if he'd actually get an answer this time, or would the sisters and Leo continually ignore his presence when they were too busy discussing how to save him?

To his surprise, Piper answered, "It's my club. I'm the owner." She hesitated, then added, "You've been sleeping in the storage room there." She gave a tight smile, obviously hoping to at least appear as though she wasn't angry with Chris, and explained, "You might have some belongings there. Something that would tell you about yourself."

There was an uneasy silence while Chris met Piper's eyes, and detected the mix of emotions within. Anger, frustration, concern, annoyance, worry… His stomach twisted painfully. He had not wanted to upset her.

"Let's check with Paige. We can tell her about the demons, and when she's done with the potion, she can orb you over there," Phoebe said at last. She paused for a moment, then turned to Piper and said, "It might help if Paige or Leo tried to teach him how to control his orbing. I mean… he's a liability if he can't even protect himself."

Piper consented to this and walking into the kitchen to find Paige, indicating for the other two to follow her.

* * *

_Underworld, 2025_

_The young woman shimmered into the cave and held her breath, listening for the sound of anyone following her. She waited, but the air was silent around her, yielding nothing but the faint echo of her own tired breathing._

_The pain in her shoulder was growing. How much longer…?_

_The thoughts ended abruptly as the slightest movement behind her caught her eye, and she spun around, instincts kicking in, body falling easily into a fighting stance. An athame appeared in her hand and she wrapped her fingers around it, held her breathe, and waited._

_The movement again. _

_She attacked, swiftly and with the deadly accuracy of someone who knows that it could be their last chance to survive. Her entire body slammed into the stranger moving around her, the athame raised quickly to the demon's throat. She was about to strike when she caught a better view of her victim's features, and she froze, athame still held sharply in front of her, eyes still wide._

"_Damn it, Bianca. What was that for?" Cole asked angrily as he stepped away from her, rubbing his sore throat and glaring at the assassin. "Are you trying to get me killed?"_

"_I didn't know it was you," the Phoenix protested. "And I stopped as soon as I saw your face."_

"_Fine," Cole growled. "But I would have attacked you self-defense had I not seen it was you. Are you trying to get _yourself_ killed?"_

"_Trying?" Bianca gave a cold, biting laugh. "I don't have to try. Melinda's determined to do it for me," she said by way of explanation. Dropping the athame reluctantly, she turned away from Cole. "I have to go," she said. She didn't have the time or luxury of explaining exactly what had happened._

_She shimmered away before Cole had a chance to ask her any further questions, but the former Source was not about to let it go so easily. Bianca was the only one who knew exactly where… or when… Chris was, and if she was in danger, than Chris was in danger as well. And If Bianca wouldn't tell him why exactly she was on the run from apparently everything that moved, he was sure as hell going to get the answers from someone else._

_His mission could wait. He concentrated on Prudence Melinda Halliwell, and shimmered away as well._


	3. Pieces of the Puzzle

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

Author's note: So, in this story, I refer to a girl named Prudence Melinda Halliwell. Just to clear it up, although her first name is Prudence, everyone calls her Melinda instead.

* * *

Chapter Three: Pieces of the Puzzle

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

_Cole waited until his body had fully reformed before taking stalk of where exactly he was. He'd been thinking about Bianca while he shimmered, and although he had intended to reappear next to Melinda, he discovered that somehow he had instead returned to one of the small bedrooms in the Resistance Stronghold. This bedroom, he noted by the layout and the few pictures taped to the walls, belonged to Daryl Morris._

_As if on cue, the door opened and Daryl walked into the room, his entire body shaking with pent-up rage. He stopped momentarily when he saw Cole, but instead of asking why the ex-Source was there, he simply slammed the door shut behind him and sank into the one chair in the sparsely furnished room. _

"_I've seen Bianca," Cole said tersely. "I want to know what's going on."_

_Daryl lifted defeated eyes to Cole and said heavily, "She's done it. Melinda's gone and actually done it." His voice was hollow, as though he couldn't quite believe what he was saying._

"_Done what?" Cole asked harshly. "And why aren't you trying to find Bianca? Trying to help her from whatever she's running from? Don't you understand, she's the only link to Chris. If Wyatt finds her, everything is lost. We can't let her fall into the wrong hands. She's more important than anything else right now…"_

"_She's running from us," Daryl said angrily, spitting out the words. "Melinda's kicked her out of the Resistance. She's running because she doesn't have anywhere else to go."_

"What_?"_

_Daryl shrugged. "You know what she's like. She's never liked Bianca, and firmly believes…"_

"_Once a demon, always a demon," Cole intoned. "I knew she thought that, but I didn't think she would actually go so far… Doesn't she realize what she's done?"_

"_She believes she's removed a serious threat," Daryl said, almost numb with disbelief. "And the rest of the council's on her side. I talked to them… They won't take Bianca back."_

_A few choice swearwords escaped Cole's parted lips as he flung an energy ball at the wall. It left a scorch mark and a spray of sparks behind, testimony to Cole's rapidly boiling anger. "That stupid little…" He shook his head and took a deep breath. He could be angry later, right now he needed to focus on the task at hand. "Alright, so what are we going to do?"_

_Daryl rolled his eyes. "What can we do?" he asked bitterly. "Go against the council? Get ourselves kicked out as well? None of them trust you, Cole, and you're probably next on their list. And Melinda made it quite clear today that if I tried to stop them, I'd be out on the streets also…"_

"_We don't matter," Cole said stoically. "Only Bianca. Only Chris."_

_Daryl suddenly exploded, jumping to his feet and yelling at Cole with every last breath in his body. "Don't you think I know all this? For God's sake, Cole, I _understand_. But what can we do? If we bring her back here, the council will kick her out again… or vanquish her. If we try to hide her without the support of the Resistance, we won't have the magic too protect her well enough. Wyatt _will_ find her, nothing we do can change that! Don't you get it? It's over! We've _lost_. Melinda has condemned us all."_

"_You don't know that," Cole replied calmly, stubbornly. "Even if Wyatt captures her, Bianca won't talk. She won't tell him where Chris is."_

"_She might," Daryl countered, "if she thought it was the only way to save him." He ran a hand through his hair. "This mission was Chris' life, his purpose for fighting. But for Bianca… she didn't buy into it the way he did. This wasn't about saving the world, this was about helping the man she loved. And if destroying everything is the only way to save him… who's to say Bianca won't let us all burn a thousand times over if it means keeping Chris alive?"_

* * *

_P3, present day_

Chris stared aghast at the back room of the club, then turned to Paige. "I've been sleeping _here_?"

The disgust in his voice made Paige laugh, and she warned him, "Better not let Piper hear you say that, Chris. She doesn't like people insulting her club."

"Oh…" Chris blanched, remember how Piper had made the vase explode with just a casual flick of her wrist. Remembering the furious look in Piper's eyes when she spoke about her divorce and the role he had played in it. Maybe with his memories, he would trust this Piper Halliwell, but without them, he was too nervous and worried to do so. "It looks nice, I guess," he said, the words catching slightly.

Paige raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as she walked further into the room. "Honestly, I don't know where you keep anything around here. I guess we'll just have to go on a scavenger hunt." She was secretly thrilled about this idea, however, because it gave her the opportunity to look through Chris' belongings and pick out pieces of his past, their future.

"Hm…" Chris held up a shirt he'd found cast carelessly over the back of the sofa. "Is this mine?" It was a dark green, and he had the strangest sensation of someone giving it to him and whispering, _It will go so well with your eyes_. He blinked away the thought and turned to Paige.

"Yeah," Paige said dismissively. It wasn't that interesting, just an old shirt, and her eyes were drawn to the pile of papers stacked on the desk near the back of the room. She walked to it quickly, eagerly, and Chris, noting her demeanor, followed her.

The papers were full of dates numbers and strange words and twisting patterns woven in and out of circles. Chris didn't recognize it, but Paige let out a gasp and her eyes went wide with wonder.

"What?" Chris demanded, peering over her shoulder at the strange papers.

"They're charts, Chris," Paige said, as though he wasn't actually able to figure that out just by looking at them. "But they're more complicated than any others I've ever seen. They've got star charts and plate-tectonics and…" she frowned slightly, pointing to a set of numbers that circled around the edge of the paper, "I think this one is mystical energies."

"What am I trying to do?" Chris asked anxiously. Although none of this made any sense to him, he still wanted to know, still needed any and all information he could glean from these few scraps of clues.

"I don't know," Paige muttered. "This is so complex, I can't make any sense out of it." She gave him an impressed look and said thoughtfully, "I wonder where you learned all this."

"Where did you learn it?" Chris asked pointedly. They're were the same, weren't they? Both part witch, part angel. The two decade age difference was the only dissimilarity between them, and that would not affect where they learned magic. Maybe it was at the same place.

But Paige shook her head. "From the Book of Shadows and the Elders and some other outside research I did," she answered. "I didn't have anyone really to teach it to me." She swallowed and gave a shaky smile, feeling a sudden sadness for the fact that she'd never had anyone to explain magic to her besides Piper and Phoebe.

And it wasn't that they hadn't taught her well, because they most certainly had. But they had been so filled with grief for Prue's death, and even if they hadn't, well… in the greater scheme of things, they were relatively new to this as well. They had only had magic a few years longer than she had, and no one had taught them about it either.

"Oh. Maybe my mother or father explained it all to me," Chris ventured, and felt a pang of sorrow and grief for something he couldn't remember.

"Maybe," Paige agreed, but she wasn't really listening anymore. Instead, she was flipping the sheets of paper with interest, looking through every tiny detail.

Chris wandered away from her, coming to stop by the edge of the sofa. An old shirt, a book, and a pair of socks lay there. He bent down, and found the rest of his clothing stuffed in a bag and shoved unceremoniously under the sofa. He pulled it out, dumping the contents-a few shirts, a pair of pants, boxers, and socks- onto the ground.

And then he saw it. the tiniest hint of silver flashing between the clothes. He reached forward instinctively, catching the thin band in his hand and holding it between his thumb and forefinger. He studied it carefully, watching as the light reflected off the small diamond set in the middle of the ring.

And engagement ring. But for whom?

"_Will you marry me?"_

"_You're asking me now? Here?"_

"_This is still our spot, Bianca, no matter what He's done to it. Marry me."_

"What have you found?"

Paige's voice pulled him from the rush of the vision, and he unconsciously dropped the ring into the clothing again, concealing it from view. "Just clothes," he answered blithely. "I guess I didn't go for variety much," he added, frowning at the shirts that all looked pretty much the same.

Paige gave a wry grin and turned away. "Guess not," she agreed.

Making sure she wasn't looking, Chris lifted the ring again, and slid it into his pants pocket.

Paige was still looking around the room, but he knew she wouldn't find anything. He had been careful not to leave clues to his identity or his secrets lying about. Even without his memory, he knew enough about himself to know that there was no way he would take the risk of anyone accidentally finding out what he didn't want them to know. So Paige could search all she wanted, he wasn't worried about that.

And in the meantime, he had some questions that really needed to be answered.

Such as who exactly was this Bianca?

They'd just been words, voices echoing in his head. He hadn't seen her, or himself, or their surroundings. But he could guess that they had been at the San Francisco Arboretum he'd gone to earlier in the day because he felt the same wash of calming love in that vision as he had while sitting on the marble bench.

It was _their_ spot.

And who was this _He_ that Bianca had spoken about? Clearly it was someone that they were both terrified of, someone powerful enough to intrude on even the most private moments of a proposal. Was he the evil from the future, the one who would eventually get to Wyatt?

"Tarot cards, scrying crystal, list of possible demonic threats… You're really serious about this, aren't you?" Paige said curiously, lifting up a pad of paper with several demonic clans scrawled across it.

Chris blinked and nodded. "I guess so," he said quietly as the pieces of the puzzle starting falling into place.

What would make him risk everything and leave behind everyone on a harebrained scheme that would most likely cost him his life? This girl, obviously. This Bianca, whoever she was. The desire to create a better future for her, for the two of them. He could feel it already, the desire for her, for spending the rest of his life with her by his side.

"You don't have anything I thought you would," Paige said, her voice sounding sorrowful as she walked towards him. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she elaborated, "Pictures, notes, memorabilia. I don't know, just… some kind of memento from home. You have nothing here to remind yourself of the people you left behind."

"Maybe I didn't need it. Maybe I wasn't going to forget anyway," Chris said, feeling the loss of his memory so much stronger now than he had before. He knew that he had a fiancée, but he didn't even know anything about her. Or about anyone else. His parents, his friends. Did he have siblings? Aunts, uncles, or cousins?

Or maybe, he thought suddenly, the reason he didn't have anything to remind himself of his past was because he didn't want to remember it. If the future was as dark as he had apparently told the sisters and their angel guardian, maybe it was too filled with loss and horror for him to actually want to dwell on it.

He didn't say this out loud, but he saw the pity in Paige's eyes, and he was fairly certain that she was thinking the same thing he was.

* * *

_Manor, present day_

"Okay, so what exactly do I do?" Chris asked, staring from Leo to Paige and back. The two of them had teamed up to teach him how to… what had they called it? Orbing?

"Just concentrate on some place you want to go," Paige said calmly. "Feel the power in you and imagine yourself moving from where you are standing now to somewhere else."

"Um… okay," Chris mumbled, closing his eyes and willing himself to feel the magic inside him. Instead, all he felt was the completely ridiculous nature of his situation. He was standing in the middle of an attic he didn't remember with a witch and an angel he didn't know, trying to magically teleport himself with a power he didn't know how to use.

"Stop it, Chris," a voice chided, and he turned to find Phoebe standing at the top of the stairs, staring at him with narrow eyes. "You're not concentrating on your magic. I can feel your emotions, and you aren't even trying." She huffed in exasperation. "You need to be able to learn this."

"Fine," Chris snapped, "but how am I suppose to learn something I don't even understand?"

"You orbed before," Leo cut in quickly. "Remember? You went to that little arboretum."

"But I don't know how I did it," Chris argued. "How can I repeat it?"

"Why did you go there?" Leo asked gently, shooting a warning look at Paige and Phoebe, telling them to remain silent and let him handle the teaching.

"I don't know. Piper was talking about magic, and I just… that place came to mind, and I felt like I would be safe there. I don't know why." Chris licked his dry lips and swallowed back his nervousness. In truth, he knew exactly why he felt safe there. He understood now the importance of the place where he had proposed to this woman… Bianca.

And it struck him, abruptly painful, that even without his memories, he was lying to the sisters. They had no reason to trust him, or even to like him. All he did was lie, and yet here they were, trying to help him remember who he was and learn to protect himself in case a demon attacked.

They were putting in the effort, so he had to do the same. Filled with a renewed sense of determination, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the first thing that came to mind; Leo. He imagined his body coming apart into those little white dots and reforming next to the other angel.

"Chris!"

His eyes snapped open and he looked in horror as Leo's orbs scattered across the air, disappearing in a twinkle of lights.

"What did you do?" Paige demanded hotly.

"Nothing," Chris protested at the same moment that Leo's orbs reappeared, condensing into his solid form. "I was just trying to orb to Leo," the witch-lighter continued, now afraid that he might have hurt the other man.

"Well, instead of orbing to me, you made me orb away," Leo replied thoughtfully. At Chris' horrified look, he said quickly, "It's fine, Chris. It's not like it hurt me at all. And, anyway, it is progress. You managed to orb something, just not yourself."

"But what if you hadn't been able to orb back together?" Chris asked, imaging exactly what the sisters would do to him if he turned Leo into nothing more than a mass of dots. He could tell that even if Piper and Leo were divorced, they still loved each other deeply, and Piper would have been less than thrilled if Chris had accidentally transformed her ex-husband into Christmas lights.

"I don't really think you can hurt me," Leo said soothingly. "Now, why don't you try again, but this time focus more definitively on yourself and less on me."

Chris, still apprehensive, closed his eyes again and tried to imagine himself breaking apart. Instead of orbing to Leo, however, he concentrated on the sofa, reasoning that it would be less detrimental to his relationship with the others if he harmed the furniture as opposed to harming one of them.

And then he found himself collapsing on the ground by the sofa as his entire body was pulled in and out and twisted around in circles. He reached out to steady himself, hands clutching blindly at the air, and fell unsteadily to his knees. His stomach heaved and his head hurt and it took him a moment to realize that he had successful orbed from one side of the attic to the other.

"Does it always feel like this?" Chris gasped, lifting his eyes to Paige.

"No, I think it's just because you aren't used to it yet," Paige answered, somewhat concerned by Chris' violent reaction. It had never had such harsh side-effects for her, but she had always had months of practicing orbing on the spot before she had tried moving through space, so perhaps it had been easier for her because of that.

Chris pushed himself to his feet and then sank wearily onto the sofa. "It didn't feel like that when I orbed to the arboretum," he ventured hesitantly. "I didn't feel anything at all."

"That was different," Leo replied. "That was instinctual, and your body took control. Here you were trying to force your body to do something, so it was harder." He was about to launch into an explanation of the difference between instinctual and controlled magic when the sound of a loud crash coming from downstairs had Paige and Phoebe both leaping for the doorway.

"Piper!" they shouted together, the single word filled with fear and dismay. They hurtled from the attic, at the same time that Leo muttered, "Wyatt," and he too disappearing in a flurry of orbs, leaving Chris standing alone.

For a moment, Chris wondered if he should join in the fight that he could now hear happening downstairs. But, he reasoned, he didn't actually know how to control any of his magic, so he would be more of a liability than a benefit. As he was thinking this, there was the sound of something exploding, a cry of shock, and then the smash of something-or someone-hitting the wall. He heard Paige yell something that sounded like, "Crystals, circle," and then everything was quiet.

Not knowing what else to do, Chris wandered towards the center of the attic. He noted the podium, standing in the middle of the room, and bearing the heavy and ancient-looking tome. The book was closed, but the cover has a strange symbol on it, one that felt very familiar. It was three pointed ovals, interlocking at the center, with an unbroken circle passing through their ends.

A triquetra.

_According to Christianity, the triquetra represented the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The circle represented eternity, symbolic of the Lord's reign as God and King. They all interwove to demonstrate that while God has three aspects, He is truly One._

_According to Wicca, the triquetra represented the three faces of the Goddess as a virgin, mother, and crone. It represented also the three symbols of nature: earth, water, and wind. The circle joined them all together in the symbol of fertility and rebirth._

Chris blinked. "What the…?" He had no idea where those words or that knowledge had come from, but it appeared in his mind like a mantra, something he had studied so frequently and so diligently that even without his memory, he still knew what it was.

He carefully opened the cover of the book and stared at the first page. It was an incantation to call power. He stared at it, silently mouthing the words, as some hidden knowledge told him not to say any of these spells out loud unless he wanted to suffer the consequences of it.

_Hear now the words of the witches, the secrets we hid in the night. The oldest of gods are invoked here, the great work of magic is sought. In this night and in this hour we call upon the ancient power. Bring your powers to us sisters three. We want the power, give us the power._

"Give us the power?" Chris said slowly. "Well… that's kind of greedy, isn't it?"

He rested his hand on the book, feeling warmth suddenly flowing into his fingertips. Something about this situation, with him standing over the book, studying its pages, just felt so completely _right_. This was where he belonged, where he had always belonged. A sense of comfort and peace filled him, and he no longer felt afraid of the demons that had attacked downstairs or of Piper's angry looks or of magic.

On impulse, he concentrated on Piper, and orbed.

With delight, he found that he had easily made his way to the sunroom without any mishap. A demon was captured in the middle of the room, set in what looked to be a cage made of pure energy. On the floor around the demon were several crystals, jagged and white and glowing. Piper and Phoebe were standing on one side of the demon while Paige stood across from them on the other. The room was a mess, the whicker loveseat overturned, the grandfather clock smashed, shards of glass from a destroyed lamp littering the floor.

"So you're after my son?" Piper asked, her voice filled with rage.

The demon gave Piper a cold look, apparently not too upset that he was trapped in a cage. "No," he smirked, "just your son's powers, energy, and life force. You can keep the body."

Piper flicked her fingers at one of the crystals, which jumped in the air, causing a bolt of energy to sizzle through the air and burn the demon within the cage. The demon screamed, his face contorting in pain and fury as he doubled over, grasping his head.

Chris bit his tongue to keep from screaming in horror.

Piper was _torturing_ the demon.

"How many of you are there?" Paige asked as soon as the demon was standing up again. "Are you planning more attacks?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the demon mocked cruelly, and Phoebe responded by throwing a potion, which passed easily through the electrical bars of the cage and hit the demon, causing him to cry out in pain once again.

"Stop it!" Chris begged, eyes watering as he watched the demon flailing about. "Stop torturing him!" All feelings of peace and tranquility he had experience while standing next to the strange book in the attic where gone now, replaced by the cold, hard realization that these women were actually tormenting someone for information.

"Chris," Piper started, taking a step towards him, but Chris backed away.

"You said you were _Good_," he spat, feeling betrayed. He was an idiot to trust these women and their lies. They were probably the ones who had erased his memory in the first place, in some sick and twisted attempt to control him. "Liar," he continued, his voice rising in volume. "How dare you use me like this?"

The demon watched this in interest, his eyes traveling back and forth between the oldest Charmed One and her confused white-lighter. He stored this scene away, already working on a plan to escape and return to his clan. They would be interested to know of this new development.

"Chris, he's a demon," Paige reasoned, her tone making it clear that she thought that would be enough of an explanation.

"Don't listen to her, kid," the demon said suddenly, adopting a softer tone. "Get out of here while you still can. They've got me, but you can make a break for it."

"Shut up," Phoebe hissed at the demon as she watched the barrage of emotions roll through Chris' eyes. She could feel his own conflicted opinions battering around inside his head, each one clamoring to be heard. He didn't want to trust this demon, he wanted to believe that the sisters had told him the truth, but he still couldn't accept what he had seen. It was just… wrong.

"You've got power, kid, anyone can sense it. They want you on their side," the demon continued, ignoring Phoebe. "Don't let them fool you, or you'll end up like me."

"For God's sake, Chris, he's trying to kill my son!" Piper screeched. "Don't listen to him!"

"I just want to get out of here," the demon countered. "And if I am after her son, it's because her son is just like her… _evil_."

And something about what the demon said struck such a chord within Chris that he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the demon had spoken the truth.

Little Wyatt was evil.

"Don't talk about me son like that," Piper demanded, spinning to face the demon. Her entire body was shaking with rage, her eyes narrowed into thin slits of brown ice. "Or I will kill you."

And there was something about that as well that Chris accepted. He shook his head, knowing that killing Wyatt was wrong. But if Wyatt was evil… Or was he? Was the demon doing this to him, trying to confuse him so he didn't know where his loyalties lay? Or were the sisters the evil ones, witches who would stop at nothing to get what they wanted? What was he supposed to do, who was he supposed to believe?

In the confusion that now surrounded them all, the demon managed to kick one of the crystals away before anyone noticed and shimmered from the room. Piper spun around, attempting to blow him up, but he was gone and the chair behind him exploded into fragments of wood and torn bits of cloth. Chris backed away from them all again, shaking his head, and finally orbed away.

For a moment, no one moved. Then Paige turned to Phoebe and said, "You should talk to him. You're the empath, you know what he's feeling."

"Can you sense him?" Phoebe asked nervously.

Paige nodded. "I'll orb you to him." She reached out for Phoebe's hand and transported the two of them away.

Piper looked around the sunroom and then called irritably to the ceiling, "Fine, leave me to do all the cleanup!"

* * *

_Golden Gate Bridge, present day_

From the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, you can see the entire city of San Francisco, sprawled out in a mass of twisting streets, dotted homes, and growing industrial zones. The water rushes underneath the bridge, reflecting the light of the late afternoon sun, causing an almost blinding glare. To the west, the Pacific Ocean, so named because its waters are supposedly more peaceful than the Atlantic Ocean, stretches to the distant horizon where the sun sets every evening. A few clouds drift lazily across the sky.

The beauty of all of this was lost on Chris.

He had no idea how he had arrived on the topmost tower of this Bridge, but now that he was here, his fear of plummeting to his death kept him firmly trapped in the very center of the smooth metal beams, as far away from the edge as possible. He didn't trust himself to orb. He didn't trust himself to move.

What had happened? How had he even gotten here? It wasn't really were he wanted to go. Was it?

Part of him wished that Paige or Leo would show up soon. The other part of him never wanted to see any of them again.

He understood that the demon had been… at least according to Piper… evil. He understood that the demon was trying to kill her son and that she simply wanted to protect Wyatt. But even if the demon was pure evil… torture… it was simply wrong.

Another thought occurred to him. What if a demon kidnapped one of them? Did the demon torture also?

He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a shaky breath. He couldn't do this. He couldn't survive in this world without his memories. He needed to remember, he needed to know who he was.

As he thought this, the air next to him was filled with white and blue dots, and Paige appeared, holding Phoebe tightly with one hand. The two witches looked around the bridge. Paige seemed intrigued that Chris had come here, but not particularly frightened. Phoebe, on the other hand, cast a wary glance towards the water far below them, and scooted towards the center of the tower.

Chris eyed them apprehensively.

"Nice place to come and think, I guess," Phoebe commented at last. "Didn't realize you liked heights."

"Do I?" Chris questioned softly, dropping his gaze to the water below. He licked his dry lips. "Doesn't really feel like it."

"Do you want to go somewhere else?" Paige asked.

Chris moved away from her instinctively. "With you? No, thanks." His feet slipped a little on the smooth metal, but he kept his balance, teetering only for a moment. Both Paige and Phoebe made as though to move towards him, but stopped when he didn't fall.

Paige slanted a look at Phoebe, urging her to say something.

"Look, Chris, we just want to talk to you, okay?" Phoebe said. She took a hesitant step towards Chris, and the witch-lighter did not back way. Taking this as a good sign, Phoebe added, "We aren't going to hurt you. Just talking."

Chris narrowed his eyes. "So talk," he ordered crisply. The wind buffeted his hair and clothes, and he shivered slightly, but pushed away thoughts of the cold and stared coolly at the two sisters.

"Demons are evil," Paige said simply, as though it was that black and white.

"And that justifies torturing them?" Chris shot back. "Causing them unbearable pain? Is this what _Good_ does? Is this what they condone?"

"If it saves innocent lives," Phoebe argued, "what other choice do we have?"

"What about what it does to you?" Chris asked, tilting his head to one side. "What about how it corrupts your soul? It might save lives, but that doesn't make it _right_."

"And just letting innocents die?" Paige countered. "How is that right?"

Chris shook his head. "You haven't even thought about it, have you? It doesn't even register that what you are doing is torture. You just go on about your lives like it isn't a big deal, like it doesn't matter. But it does."

"Chris…"

"Life matters," Chris continued on his rant, ignoring Paige's attempt to interrupt him. "Yours, mine, the demon's… it's all life."

"Demons are…"

"Evil. Yeah, I know, Paige, I heard you already," Chris snapped. He looked like he was about to say something else, when Phoebe spoke.

"You're right."

Chris stared at her, not expecting that answer. Paige, too, gave her an incredulous look. But Phoebe just kept speaking, her face filling with sorrow as she did so.

"Life_does_ matter and torture _is_ wrong. But… they're should have been four of us," she said slowly, shaking her head. "We had an older sister, older than Piper. Her name was Prue."

Chris held his breath, remembering how Piper had mentioned the name Prue, but had not answered his question about her identity. Staring at Phoebe now, he had a good idea why the topic was so painful for the sisters.

"She was killed… murdered… by a demon. About two-and-a-half years ago. Piper was there at the time… I wasn't. We weren't able to save her." Phoebe gave a wan smile, caught in her own memories of that horrible day. They had grown up together, the three of them, and it was still hard to look around and realize that Prue wasn't a part of their life anymore.

"Why did the demons kill her?" Chris ventured.

Phoebe shrugged. "We're a threat to them. They wanted to get rid of us." She hesitated, then added, "Demons don't often need a reason to kill. They do it for fun. You have to understand where we are coming from. For Piper especially… the thought of losing someone… her_son_… to demons is just…" She stopped, unable to come up with a word to describe how horrific that scenario was.

"I'm sorry," Chris said. "For your loss."

Phoebe blinked away her tears and smiled. "Thank you," she said. "Now, please, will you come back with us? I promise no one is going to hurt you."

And Chris nodded ever so slowly and extended his hands to her and Paige, letting himself be orbed away.

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025 _

"_Hello, Balthazar," Melinda said, not looking up from the papers she was staring out. The meeting room was empty save for a table and a few chairs and the spread of maps that Melinda was studying._

_Cole stared at the back of the girl he had once wished was his own daughter and wondered how anyone who came from someone as wonderful as Phoebe could turn out so… wrong._

"_You kicked Bianca out onto the streets," Cole accused, barely able to keep the disgust from his voice. "There's a bounty on her head. You sent her to death."_

_Melinda turned and raised smirking eyes to the man who had at one point been married to her mother. "Once a demon, always a demon," she replied coolly. "I didn't trust her." She didn't have to say it, Cole knew what she was implying._

_She didn't trust him, either._

"_Don't you get it? If Wyatt gets to her, she'll tell him where Chris is. You've put your own cousin in danger to." He hesitated, then added, "And Chris is the real leader of the Resistance. You're just the fill-in while he's gone. You don't have the authority to kick Bianca out." _

_Melinda glared coldly at the ex-Source, her face flushed with embarrassment at his comment. She refused to give him the pleasure of getting a rise out of her, however, and did not respond to his comment about her leadership. Instead, she spat, "Bianca has been a threat since the very beginning. She seduced Chris, tricked him into trusting her. Without Chris, I've finally got the opportunity to get rid of her, and I am not going to let it pass me by just because it upsets a half-demon and a mortal!" She shook her head pityingly and turned back to the maps. "And if you really think that Bianca would tell Wyatt where Chris is, then how can you even claim she's good?"_

"_Because it's Wyatt, you self-centered, hypocritical brat," Cole snarled. "He'll torture it from her, and you don't even give a damn about that, do you?"_

_Melinda just shrugged. She was used to Cole's anger and dislike by now, she'd been on the receiving end of it for months. But he was a demon, so his opinion didn't matter to her at all. "Well, why don't you vanquish her then?" she asked pointedly. At Cole's blank look, she elaborated, "That would be a way of keeping Chris safe, wouldn't it? Wyatt can't torture her for information if she's already dead."_

_Cole shook his head in disbelief. "You really don't care, do you? You don't care about anything but getting one up on your cousin, making sure that you've proved you can still fight him. You will never be even half the leader Chris was!"_

"_How dare you!"_

"_You are nothing but a childish, arrogant amateur," Cole said in a deathly calm voice, "who's still mad because the prophecies gave all the power to her older cousin."_


	4. End Game

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: IMPORTANT. This is set before Piper meets Greg (the fireman). So she doesn't know who he is yet. That will be important for future chapters, so I might keep reminding you all of that.

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Four: End Game

_San Francisco, 2025_

_The young woman slanted a quick look around her, then took a deep breath. Letting it out in a whoosh, she pushed back the utter loneliness she felt. She was an assassin, and for years before she had met Chris, she'd been on her own. But then she'd met Chris, and now she was used to be surrounded by people that she cared about, and people who cared about her. It was strange, this empty feeling that plagued her now that she was back to a life of running and hiding. Strange and unsettling._

_It was almost dark and she was exhausted. She hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in way too long, but how could she fully rest when she knew there were demons out there with orders to bring her to their Lord, dead or alive?_

_The wound in her shoulder was infected now, the skin hot to the touch. She needed medical attention, but it was too risky to go to the mortal hospitals and she would never survive a trip back to the Resistance. Melinda would make sure of that. So what options were left to her?_

_As a trained Phoenix, she knew enough about potions and the healing properties of certain plants to brew something that might help. She considered this, staring at her shoulder, deep in thought._

_And because she was so lost in her own musings, she did not hear the telltale whisper of the wind as the demon shimmered in, didn't register the other presence until it was too late and the hands of her attacker were already closing over her arms._

"_Well, hello, poppet," the demon said, his British accent heavy, his smile twisting into a cruel leer. He tightened his grasp her wrists, fingers digging deeply into the skin. "Miss me?"_

* * *

_Manor, present day_

Piper glanced up as Chris appeared with her sisters. She noted Phoebe's slightly green skin and asked curiously, "Where did you go?"

Phoebe sank onto a chair, now able to give in to just how much her fear of heights had affected her. "The very top of the Golden Gate Bridge," she moaned, closing her eyes.

"I thought it was cool," Paige said, rolling her eyes at Phoebe's dramatics. "It's a great view from up there."

"Easy for you to say," Phoebe shot back, slanting a look at her younger sister. "You don't have to worry about plummeting to your death, you can just orb away." She shivered and leaned back in the chair. "I don't like heights."

"And yet you always wanted to be able to fly," Piper mused, her eyes laughing silently.

"Well, yeah," Phoebe answered as though the reasoning was obvious. "If I could fly, I wouldn't have to be afraid of heights."

Piper shrugged, deciding not to question Phoebe's logic anymore, and turned her attention to Chris. She gave him an appraising look, as though expecting him to suddenly attack them all and declare their evilness. He stared back, refusing to back down from her gaze.

"I'm sorry about Prue," Chris said finally, breaking the silence.

Piper started, and looked over at Phoebe. "You told him…?"

"So he could understand where we were coming from," Phoebe defended herself. There really wasn't anything else she could have said to him to make him truly understand the pain this life had forced on all of them. Prue's death was still the hardest thing she'd ever had to deal with, but by now she'd also had to vanquish a husband… more than once… and lose a child that had never really been hers.

"Fine," Piper said, still annoyed but realizing that Phoebe was only doing what was for the best. 'We need to come up with a plan to stop this demons before they get Wyatt."

"Okay, then I need to call Jason and tell him I have to reschedule our date," Phoebe said, standing slowly. "Again." She frowned and shook her head.

"It's not my fault the Underworld is after my son," Piper retorted.

"Who's Jason?" Chris asked, but as usual, no one answered him.

"I didn't say it was your fault," Phoebe replied, "but this is the third date in the last two weeks that I've had to reschedule. Sooner or later, Jason is going to get suspicious."

"See, that's the nice thing about Richard," Paige cut into the conversation, "I don't have to hide anything from him."

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in," Phoebe muttered as she walked from the room.

"Who's Richard?" Chris asked. Nobody even looked at him. He thought idly that it was almost as though he was invisible, and he couldn't help but wonder if that was a new power of his that he didn't know he had. Could the sisters actually even _see_ him?

But then Piper turned and glanced at him, suspicion and distrust still in her eyes, and he discarded the previous theory. They could see him. They were just ignoring him.

"Okay, I'll put on some tea," Paige offered. They always had tea while they were problem solving. But as she said the words, another thought came to mind, and she placed a hand on Piper's shoulder briefly as she made her way from the room. "Don't blow up Chris, okay?"

Piper glared at the youngest Charmed One, but nodded reluctantly.

And then Paige exited the room, and Piper was left alone with Chris.

She sighed. Because this had obviously worked so well last time…

"Look, Piper," Chris started, deciding to take some of the initiative, "I didn't want to hurt you." She gave him a confused look, her eyes narrowed slightly at his words, and he rushed on to say, "I don't know what I did or why, but I do know this; I never once wanted to cause you pain."

"You say it like we know each other," Piper said curiously. The conviction in his words softened her heart a little, and she did her best to appear more understanding as she gestured for him to take a seat across from her as she sank onto the sofa.

"I think maybe we do," Chris said with a shrug. For a moment, he froze, unsure of what to say next, because Piper was giving him a suspicious stare. She quickly erased the expression from her face and he ventured, "Maybe Wyatt and I were friends before…" He gave an apologetic shrug, not able to finish the sentence.

"And you really don't know what happens to my son in the future?" Piper jumped on her chance to press the advantage. "You don't remember that at all?"

Chris shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said, and he meant it. "If I did remember…" He gave another shrug, glancing towards the kitchen where Paige was preparing tea. "I don't know why I didn't tell you before."

He looked like such a young boy then, so lost and confused, that Piper felt her heart almost breaking for him. He was holding himself together as best he could, but he was all alone in a time that wasn't his with no memories to help guide him. Whatever anger and resentment she felt was slowly melting away as she looked at him.

"Chris," she leaned across the space between them and put her hand on his arm, "I'm sorry. I'm trying to be nice to you, I really am. I just… There's a lot of tension between us. A lot of… suspicions and lies and… I am sorry."

"It's not your fault," Chris said suddenly, uncomfortable seeing Piper like this. It hurt him, although he didn't know why. Why was her good opinion so important to him? Why did he care that much? "I've been told that I wasn't the easiest person to get along with and I'm guessing that… when I get my memories back… I'll go back to being the annoying half-angel I was before." He didn't mention the possibility that he might not get his memories back. He didn't want to think about it, because he knew that it would mean the end of the world if that happened. If he couldn't save Wyatt from whatever evil it was that got to him, everything would go to hell. But how could he save Wyatt when he didn't even know who any of these people were?

"Hey," Paige announced her presence as she walked back into the room. She raised an eyebrow at Piper as she caught sight of the elder Charmed One's hand on Chris arm. Piper flushed and withdrew her arm quickly, and Chris looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"Hey, Paige," Chris greeted quietly.

"Good to see that you are both still in one piece," Paige quipped as she handed Piper a cup of tea. She turned towards Chris, extending a mug, and he wrapped his hands around in appreciatively. The smell of peppermint drifted into the air, and he wrinkled his nose slightly.

"I guess I don't like tea," he said with a frown. He took a sip anyone, just to be polite, but pulled a face at the bitter taste.

Paige laughed, still marveling over how young and innocent Chris looked without his neurotic perseverance and determination, and the constant refrain of 'future consequences.' "Well, at least we know that means you aren't a Halliwell," she answered teasingly.

She turned to Piper as she finished saying this, and did not see the contemplative expression that flickered through Chris' eyes.

Phoebe reappeared abruptly, a sour-look on her face. She walked over to the rocking chair and flopped into it, announcing, "Jason and I got into an argument… again. About how I never trust him with things and it's always a family emergency and…" She shook her head. "It's not fair."

"Life isn't fair," Chris said automatically. All eyes swing to him, and he flushed suddenly. "Uh…" He looked uncomfortable, and Paige took pity on him and changed the topic of conversation.

"Well, the sooner we figure out how to stop the demons, the sooner we can all go back to our lives. So… any ideas?"

"I say we just orb down there and blow them all up," Piper announced angrily. "Teach them not to come after my son!"

"They have the ability to drain magical power, Piper," Phoebe cautioned, "which all of us have a lot of. We'd be bringing them exactly what they wanted."

"We've faced worse demons before," Paige pointed out. She pushed a few strands of red hair out of her eyes and gave Chris a look. It was strange for him not to voice his opinion during the conversation. She was used to him pushing his own theories on them constantly, and now he just stood there and stared blankly at them as they spoke.

"But usually it is just one tricky vanquish," Phoebe countered. "We have to go after the entire clan."

"Wyatt is Up There with Leo, right?" Paige asked, turning to Piper. The older sister nodded, and Paige continued, "So he's safe. We need to take the fight to the demons now, before they have time to organize another attack."

"So what? We just orb down there and start blowing things up?" Phoebe asked.

"Why not? We know exactly what their end game is: to take Wyatt's energy and powers. So we need to stop it," Paige answered. She could see the concern in both her sisters' eyes and she knew it was well-founded. It wasn't a good idea to rush into something unprepared, but what other choice did they have? Waiting for another attack would only make the demons harder to vanquish.

"She has a point," Piper admitted. "Besides, we don't have to vanquish all of them. Just scare them enough so that they don't ever attack again."

"Maybe Chris should go Up There also?" Paige suggested, giving the witch-lighter a scrutinizing stare. "He'll be in danger if he's here all by himself."

"Fine," Piper agreed. "I'll get Leo to orb him up. We're going to need a whole bunch of vanquishing potions. And maybe a good all-purpose vanquishing spell." Phoebe and Paige both nodded their consent to the plan, and started moving about quickly, preparing for the upcoming battle.

* * *

_Up There, present day_

Chris glanced around the white marble of Up There. Mist swirled at his feet, filling the cool air with more whiteness. All around him, angels wandered about, taking quietly with each other in a strange language he didn't understand. It sounded familiar, as though he should know what it was, but that particular knowledge was lost, just like the rest of his memories.

Leo stood next to him, a hand on Chris' arm as though to prevent him from wandering away. The Elder was holding Wyatt in his other arm, the little toddler nestled against his side.

"So this is where angels live," Chris mused. "It looks different than what I expected."

Leo gave a wry grin. "What did you expect?" he inquired.

Chris smiled, his entire face lighting up as he joked, "People sitting on clouds playing the harp and eating nectar and ambrosia."

Leo shook his head and answered with a laugh, "We're angels, Chris, not gods."

For a moment, the world slipped away from him, and Chris felt himself standing in the blackness of space. A moment later, and he heard voices, cries echoing in his head. A scene unraveled before him, hazy and imperfect, but filled with meanings and answers he couldn't understand.

"_You're an angel, not a god!" a younger Chris argued, facing a slightly taller blonde teenager._

"_They're the same thing, Chris. You just don't understand that," the teenager answered coldly, shaking his head and looking away. "You're too corrupted by those pointless notions of Good and Evil."_

"Chris? Chris, can you hear me?"

Chris found himself staring into Leo's concerned eyes. He was still standing, rigid and tall, but a few other angels had gathered around him. They were all looking at him concern and slight fear, as though they had never seen anything quite like him before.

"What happened?" he stammered, his voice choked with fear and surprise. "I… what…?" He turned wide eyes back to Leo, hoping for an answer.

"We were talking, and then you went stiff as a board," Leo said quietly. "Your eyes were unfocused and you were completely out of it for a moment. What happened?"

"I think I remembered something," Chris said slowly. "I was arguing with someone, and he… I told him that he wasn't a god." He looked at Leo again, before averting his eyes. "I don't remember anything else," he added unnecessarily. "I just… I guess what you said triggered that…" He was uncomfortable with so many eyes focused on him, and he couldn't quite bring himself to look at them all. The attention was making him anxious.

"That's a good sign," Leo said thoughtfully, shifting Wyatt to the other arm. "It means you're starting to remember everything. Bits and pieces should come back to you, slowly at first. But soon…" He gave a wan smile, attempting to sound encouraging. "I know it must be strange to have this happening, but it is what we want, Chris. We want you to get your memories back."

"Do you?" Chris asked, unsure.

Leo frowned, then turned to the other white-lighters and Elders gathered around. "He's fine," he said. "Can you give us a moment?"

The other nodded and turned away, scattering into the mist and fog again. One of the men waited a moment, giving Leo a hard look. He was wearing a long golden robe, and his face wore a particularly dignified expression.

"It's fine, Gideon," Leo said again.

The man, Gideon, glanced at Chris. "Of course," he said in a heavy British accent. "If you need any help Leo, Christopher, don't hesitate to ask." And he too turned and walked away, disappearing into the expanse of white.

"Why wouldn't we want you to get your memories back?" Leo asked the moment the others had left.

"Well, you seem to like me a lot more now," Chris answered pointedly. "I mean, Piper practically admitted that she couldn't stand me before I lost my memories."

"We didn't know what to think of you then," Leo replied. "And… Chris, you have done a lot that you'll need to answer for at some point. But now that we've seen who you are underneath it all, I think… well, I for one am more willing to give you the benefit of the doubt." He paused, then added with a smile, "Even if you are sarcastic, neurotic, and annoying."

"Thanks," Chris said dryly.

Leo laughed again. Turning to the toddler in his arms, he said, "Come on, buddy. Why don't you and I show Chris around while your mother and aunts go vanquish those nasty demons?" To Chris, he added, "Maybe you'll start to remember some other things. This is a pretty familiar place for you. It could trigger something."

Chris nodded, watching as Leo and Wyatt interacted. He could see the adoration on Wyatt's face, and the look of complete love that Leo gave his son, and for some reason, it bothered him. The bond between the two left him feeling guilty and lonely and frustrated and hurt all at once, and he had no idea why.

"Chris?" Again, Leo was looking at him with confusion and concern. He had started walking, but when he realized that Chris wasn't following him, he stopped and turned around. Chris was staring at nothing again, but he wasn't as stiff or rigid as before, and his eyes were not as blank. It looked as though he was lost in his own thoughts, trying to work through some problem.

"Sorry," Chris said, moving towards Leo. "I was just thinking about something else."

"Care to share?" Leo asked.

Chris shook his head. "No, but thanks," he said. "It wasn't really anything… important."

Leo gave him a disbelieving look, but didn't push the subject.

They walked in peace for a while, Leo occasionally pointing out different architectural parts of the white marble archs and passage ways, or introducing Chris to other angels. He explained about the angel hierarchy, as Chris dubbed it, about the differences between different levels of Elders and the white-lighters. Almost everyone up there seemed to know him already, and they were very sympathetic of his lost memory. It made the situation even more awkward for him, but he bore it with a stoic expression, knowing that Leo was only trying to help.

It was when he was being reintroduced to yet another fellow white-lighter that the next vision came. It was shorter than the first, and triggered by nothing apparent except the fact that they were standing Up There.

_The white marble of Up There was filled with scorch marks and running red with blood. Elders slumped over everywhere, their faces fixed in expressions of horror and despair. Chris stood in the center of it all, a few years younger than he had been in the last vision, and called out frantically, "Daddy! Daddy!" _

_There was no answer._

"Oh… God," Chris breathed as he came back to the present.

"What is it?" Leo asked, leading Chris over to a nearby bench and forcing him to sit down. The young half-angel was shaking badly, his face white, his eyes filled with terror. Leo sat next to him, still holding Wyatt tightly. He, too, looked scared, reacting to the expression of fear in Chris' eyes. "What did you see?"

"Everyone up here was dead," Chris answered in a monotone. "I was screaming for my father. I think I might have been ten or eleven."

"Did you father answer you? Did you find him?" Leo asked quietly, dreading the answer already. What was it Chris had said when he came back to the past? That families barely existed in his world? That he had never had a chance to know his? Was this part of the reason? Had his father died when he was only a child, leaving him alone?

Chris shook his head. "No," he said bluntly. He wrapped his arms around his chest and added glumly, "God, what a miserable world."

"We're going to change that, Chris," Leo said, placing a comforting hand on Chris' shoulder. "We're going to save the future. We're going to save everyone."

_She slid her hand into his and said quietly, her voice full of faith, "Just remember, protect baby Wyatt and you protect the Charmed Ones. Keep them alive for our future."_

"_Great," Chris replied sarcastically. He was in his early twenties, creeping through a strangely unfamiliar version of the Manor's attic. "No pressure there."_

"_Chris, you know you're the only one who can do this. You're the only one who can save us," the girl replied. She gave him a smile, and he forced himself to return one as well, but the apprehension did not leave his eyes._

Chris pressed his hands into his eyes and shook his head frantically, pushing away the memory. He did not know who the girl was, but the love he felt for her was undeniable. Thinking of the engagement ring he had discovered at P3, he mouthed the name Bianca, but did not say it out loud.

"I don't like these memories," he muttered into his hands.

"What did you see?" Leo asked. It seemed like a refrain, over and over and over he would ask the same question. But Chris hadn't come to his senses completely yet, and he didn't seem to realize he was dropping precious clues about the future, something he never would have done if he had actually had all his memories.

"Me and a girl sneaking through your house. Only… it looked like it was different… darker…" Chris mumbled his reply. "She wanted me to protect Wyatt. She wanted me to protect all of you."

"Did you recognize her?" Leo asked curiously.

Chris shook his head. So far, the ring and his love for her were two secrets that he had, two things he knew about himself that no one else knew. He didn't know why, but he wanted to keep them to himself. He wanted them to be just his, and nobody else's.

"Okay, well you're obviously getting a lot of memories right now. How do you feel? Are you okay?" Leo asked, wondering what the next step in this should be.

"My head hurts," Chris admitted softly.

Leo frowned. "Then maybe it would be a good idea to refrain from doing anything to trigger another memory. Just until the headaches go away."

"I think that might be easier said than done," Chris answered.

To which Leo replied, "Most things are."

"_Chris, look out!"_

_The young man through himself sideways and out of the path of the fireball. The warning had come not a moment to soon, and he barely avoided a flame-filled death. He crashed heavily into the tables and chairs, and they broke under his weight._

_A girl was rising to her feet. She looked furious, and her hands were extended in front of her, a pulse of energy crackling on her fingertips. The air hummed as she easily vanquished the several demons who had attacked._

_For a moment, there was a dead silence. Then Chris said wearily, "Well, I guess they figured out that we were spying on them."_

"_Let's get back to the Resistance," the girl said quietly. "And Chris…" she added with a wry smile, "try not to get yourself killed on the way."_

_Chris grinned back. "Easier said than done, Mel," he laughed._

"I think we were trying to get information," Chris said the moment the vision faded. He didn't look at Leo, simply stared ahead, lost in his own thoughts. "Another girl… I called her Mel. But demons attacked us."

Leo frowned, then stood quickly. "Stay here," he said. "I'll be right back." And he and Wyatt hurried away.

Chris stared in the direction the other man had gone, then down at his own hands. He remembered what it felt like as the fire passed by his head, so close to his skin he could feel the heat. He had reacted on instinct to this woman's command, as though he knew her and knew he could trust her. But who was she? The name Mel didn't sound familiar, and nothing about her rang any bells.

It was beyond frustrating, beyond annoying. All these glimpses at a life he couldn't remember, these gentle reminders of something he didn't have anymore. He almost liked it better when everything was a blank slate and he didn't know who he was. At least then he had a chance or reinventing himself into something that he actually liked. He didn't want to think about the horrors of this future. He just wanted to forget.

"Chris?" Leo had reappeared by his side. He was holding a small bag in one hand, and Chris gave it a curious look. Catching Chris' gaze, Leo held up the bag and said, "It's sleep dust. It should put you to sleep for a little while. Just until your mind has time to process the new memories."

Chris gave Leo a suspicious glare. He didn't like the idea of being magically sent to sleep, but he couldn't deny that his head was throbbing and he desperately wanted to just close his eyes and rest.

"It's only if you want, Chris," Leo said gently. He could tell that Chris didn't like the idea of being out of control, and he couldn't blame the young witch-lighter. But this really would be for the best. He needed to rest, needed his mind to heal, before he received more memories. "I just thought you might like to get some sleep. I'm not going to force it on you."

Chris nodded slowly. "Okay," he said.

* * *

_Underworld, present day_

"Intelligence isn't really one of your strong points, is it?" the demon mocked.

Piper, Paige, and Phoebe glanced around the cave, worried. They had orbed into the demons' lair, hoping that the element of surprise would give them enough of an upper hand to convince the clan to stop attacking. However, the demons had responded to their sudden appearance relatively quickly, and their sheer numbers allowed them to push the Charmed Ones into a corner.

The foremost demon who had spoken threw back her hood and took another few steps towards Piper. She was tall, and had pale skin and glittering eyes. Her cherry-red lips quirked into a cruel smile as she eyed Piper.

"What's the matter, darling?" she asked quietly, tauntingly. "Did you really think you would be able to beat us so easily?"

All around her, the demons began to throw back their own hoods. The long cloaks still draped over them, obscuring their bodies from view, but their malicious expressions could not be seen quite clearly, and this did nothing to ease Piper's fears.

Still, the oldest Charmed One held a brave expression and said, "Did you really think you could attack my son and get away with it?"

"Don't worry," another demon answered. His gaze was fixed on the vanquishing potion clutched in Phoebe's hand, the last of the ones that the sisters had brought with them. "Your son isn't out only target. Just the main one."

Piper raised her hands and flicked her wrist at the demon, but he shimmered out of the way before her blast of molecular combustion could reach him. "Stay away from my son!" she spat, her voice echoing, bouncing off the walls of the cavern.

"Make us," another demon snarled, throwing a fireball at Paige. She redirected the fireball back towards him at the same time that Piper tried to blow him up. The demon was unable to avoid both attacks, and screamed in fury as he exploded into ash and flames.

The demons all sprung forward, prepared to attach. At the same time, Paige reached out and caught both Piper and Phoebe's arms, prepared to orb them all to safety. Before anything could happen, however, a voice called out forcefully, "Stop!" and the entire cave shook with the power of that single word.

The demons parted, and Paige hesitated, turning towards the figure that had appeared. She still held tightly to her sisters', one hand resting on each shoulder, in case they needed to escape quickly. But none of the demons were making even the slightest move to attack, and the newcomer strode forward boldly, watching them.

This demon was cloaked as well, and from beneath the darkness of the hood, two silver eyes stared at them.

"This is getting boring," the demon said. "I thought you would have put up much better of a fight. You disappoint me."

"You want to see a fight?" Piper asked, her voice dangerously low. She attempted to blow up the demon, but the demon merely raised a hand and blocked Piper's power, absorbing it easily.

"Pathetic," the demon said.

"Who are you?" Paige demanded. "Or are you too scared to show your true face?"

The demon reached up and slowly lowered the hood. As the face came into view, all three sisters gasped.

"Grams?" Phoebe whispered.

"Prue?" Piper whimpered.

"Mom?" Paige asked quietly.

The demon raised an eyebrow and remarked calmly, "Interesting. You all see different people. And there I thought you were more alike." With a fluid movement, it raised the hood again, obscuring its features.

Piper blinked. That thing standing in front of her had been Prue, but a younger one, the one that she had known right when they first discovered magic. Short hair and the same cool smile, same nose, same face-shape. But the eyes had been different, colder. And silver.

Phoebe glanced at Piper. For her, the demon had worn Grams' face. Gray hair curling slightly around a stern, but loving, smile and the exact same stance and expression. But the eyes, so icy and silver, like liquid mercury.

Paige reacted almost instantly, orbing away with both her sisters. When the demon lowered its hood, she saw her mother, saw the disappointed look that had graced her face so many times when Paige was growing up. The look that said that she had expected better things from her daughter than this involvement with drugs and cigarettes and rebellion. Only the eyes told her that this was not her mother. Only those freezing silver eyes were different.

The demon stared at the place where the Charmed Ones had stood, then turned back to the clan. "I wanted this to be fun," the demon said, annoyed.

"We agreed to help you because you promised us glory. You promised us the Charmed Ones, and we had them right there! How could you let them go?" one of the demons demanded, striding forward impatiently.

Without even glancing at its accuser, the hooded demon waved a hand, tossing a fireball easily at the other demon. He cried out in shock and burst into flames, and the hooded demon turned towards the rest of the clan. "Don't fool yourselves," it said coldly, "the Charmed Ones would have escaped your grasp. They're more than just witches and none of you are powerful enough to defeat them. We will vanquish them, but we will do this my way." It paused, then said with a malicious tone, "After all, I want to have a little fun with this kill…"

* * *

_Manor, present day…_

Leo watched as Chris slumbered on the sofa. He was pleased that the boy had chosen to accept his offer. Still balancing Wyatt on one hip, he hovered close to the sleeping witch-lighter, prepared to orb them both out in a matter of seconds if need be. He knew it wasn't particularly safe here, and that Piper had wanted him to remain Up There, but he had thought it might be more comfortable for Chris in the Manor than in Elder Land.

The jingle of orbs had him turning in surprise, just in time to see the sisters reappear in the entrance to the sunroom. They looked shaken and white, and he knew that the attack on the demonic clan had not gone as well as they had hoped.

"What happened?" Leo asked instantly.

Piper shook her head and didn't answer, but crossed the room to take Wyatt from his father. Glancing down at Chris, she asked, "Is he okay?"

"He started remembering some things, but his brain was having trouble coping with the stress of those memories, so I gave him some sleep dust. So that he would have time to heal," Leo explained. "Are any of you hurt?" he pressed, glancing from his ex-wife to Paige and Phoebe.

Phoebe frowned at his question, as though she didn't quite understand what he was asking. "Grams," she said, and turned away, hurrying towards the stairs that lead to the attic.

"Oh, God… my Mom… I thought…" Paige stuttered incoherently, then chased after Phoebe.

Leo turned back to Piper, now more concerned than before. "What happened?" he asked again.

"Prue," Piper replied, and, still holding Wyatt, she followed her sisters towards the stairs.

Leo stared after them, then sighed and shook his head. Why was everything in this family so complicated?

* * *

_Manor, 2025_

_Her shoulder throbbed._

_There was no point in struggling, she knew that. The demons had a firm grip on her arms, and even if she managed to vanquish those two, there were several more in the attic of this Museum, ready to attack her if need be. And even if she managed to vanquish all of _them_, it still wouldn't make a difference because she could feel the anti-shimmering spell draped over the attic. It wasn't usually there, she mused, because the demons had to be able to come and go as they pleased. It must have been cast specially for her._

_Morbidly, the thought made her proud. They had taken her threat seriously._

_And then she heard the jingle of orbs and felt her blood turn to ice. She knew it was coming, had known since she was first captured that she would have to face Him, but even so… Knowing was different from fully accepting the inevitability…_

"_Hello, Bianca."_

_She lifted her own eyes to the face of the man who should have been her family and felt her fear replaced by loathing and fury. Her voice, cold and harsh and filled with bitter revulsion, and yet calm and unwavering, surprised even herself when she spoke._

"_Hello, Wyatt."_


	5. The Stranger

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Some of the dialogue is taken from _Chris-Crossed_ and changed slightly to fit the plot of the story. It doesn't belong to me. Also, the city Zanbar is referenced in _I Dream of Phoebe_ (which hasn't happened yet). I'm giving it its own magical history in this chapter.

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Five: The Stranger

_Manor, attic, present day…_

"So you're saying this demon that attacked took on three different appearances?" Leo asked, bouncing Wyatt idly as he looked from one sister to the next. Their garbled explanations had left him confused and anxious, and he was trying to sort through all the different details in his mind.

"No," Piper answered, leaning over the podium in the center of the attic and flipping through the pages of the Book. "She… he…" she stuttered, not sure which gender the demon was. Finally settling for something without gender, she explained, "It looked different to all three of us at the same time."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "What did it look like?" he asked, although he was fairly certain he knew the answer. He'd heard their panicked words when they first arrived back at the Manor, and he knew that it was more than a coincidence that they had seen what they had seen. Still, he wanted them to say it, wanted to confirm his fears before he ventured his opinion.

"I saw Grams," Phoebe answered. "She looked… like she did right before she died, when she… when she was always so upset with me…" She trailed off, not sure what else to say. She could remember all the futile fights she'd had with her grandmother, all the times they'd ended up frustrated and angry with each other. All the times she'd done something stupid and relied on her grandmother to bail her out of trouble.

"I saw my Mom," Paige added. "She looked almost exactly like she did that day right before she died. We were arguing and she…" She paused, then forced herself to say, "She looked disappointed in me."

"And I saw Prue," Piper said, finally. She took Wyatt from Leo, again, and held her son close, playing with his hair. Walking back to the Book, she added, "Does this sound familiar to you, Leo?"

Leo drew a breath slowly. "Yes," he said grimly. "It does." He had a far away look in his eyes, and a heavy silence fell over the attic while the sisters waited for him to explain. When he finally spoke, his voice was filled with worry and resignation. "We didn't think he was real, just a myth."

"Who?" Piper demanded, impatient as always.

"Several thousand years ago, there was a rumor of a god-like being that roamed the earth," Leo said quietly.

"God-like?" Paige asked, instantly fearing the return of the Titans.

"Just powerful," Leo answered grimly. "He wasn't actually a god, although he was close." He ran a hand through his hair. "The legend starts with a King and Queen of the ancient magical city of Zanbar."

"Zanbar?" Paige asked, wrinkling her nose.

Leo nodded. "Before its destruction it was a seat of magical power for Evil. It was ruled by Orexio and Lavinia, two of the most powerful magical beings the world has ever known. They infused the city with magic and condensed as much power as possible in the buildings, the soil, and the air. You see, as King and Queen, they controlled all the magic of the city, and it was in their best interests to make the place as powerful as possible."

"But magic doesn't like being contained," Paige argued. She gave Leo a thoughtful stare and explained to both her sisters, "I remember reading about it. You can infuse something with magic, but the magic is always trying to escape. Like the Nexus. It sits in this house, but every time there is an earthquake, the Shadow escapes."

"Exactly," Leo agreed with an affirmative nod of his head. "So the city was volatile. Eventually, it wasn't able to contain the magic anymore. A great earthquake swallowed the entire city and all its inhabitants. Lavinia, the queen, was a seer. She foresaw the fall of her kingdom and warned her husband. The two of them fled Zanbar but left everyone else to die."

"That's horrible," Phoebe said weakly.

Leo gave a slight smile. "Well, they were demons," he replied pointedly. He paused for a moment, the continued with the story. "After the city fell, evil was severely weakened. A few other members of the city had managed to survive, and they wanted revenge on the two demons whose carelessness and greed had brought about the destruction."

"I can't say I blame them," Piper answered. She carefully placed Wyatt in his play pen and watched for a moment as he started chewing on the stuffed dog that she had bought him earlier than week. Finally, she glanced back at Leo. "But what does this have to do with the demon that attacked us?"

"I'm getting there," Leo replied, shaking his head. Honestly, they impatiently wanted all the answers and then continually interrupted him as he tried to explain it to them. "The demons who wanted revenge were lead by the Source. He gathered an army and tracked Lavinia and Orexio to their hiding place in the Underworld. A great battle ensued, and Orexio was killed by the Source."

"Is this the same battle that brought the Source to power?" Piper asked, trying to keep the different aspects of magical history separate in her mind. "The one when his face was disfigured?"

"Yes," Leo answered. "After the Source killed Orexio, Lavinia, in a fit of rage and grief, clawed half of the Source's face, permanently damaging his right eye. She escaped after that, and the Source took power, and that is the end of what we know as fact."

"And again, I ask what this has to do with the demon that attacked us?" Piper pressed.

Leo bit back the urge to tell her to just wait, but then remembered that he was neither her husband nor her white-lighter and he didn't really have the authority to demand anything from her. Instead, he explained, "There was a rumor… a myth… that Lavinia had somehow managed to save Orexio's spirit. His body was destroyed, and although she was powerful she could not make him a new body. He spent several years possessing other demons while she struggled to come up with a suitable method for him to survive on his own. Finally, she combined old magic and the tricks she had as a seer to create a shell for him. It wasn't a real body, but just something he could put his own essence into. She couldn't give it form, so instead she cast a spell so that he would appear to everyone as what they most wanted to see. She thought this would make it so that she would see him as Orexio, but somehow the spell went awry. Instead of taking the form of what the viewer most desires, he takes the form of what the viewer feels most guilty about."

"Grams tried so hard to get me to follow the right path, and I didn't…" Phoebe whispered, her words trailing off a the end. She looked at her two sisters, and knew exactly what they were thinking. Piper hadn't been able to save Prue and Paige had lost her mother without ever having a chance to tell her how much she loved her.

"This was all rumor, we didn't think it was real…" Leo shrugged. "But apparently it is."

"So Orexio will always look like Prue to me?" Piper asked, returning to the Book. "And why aren't either of them in the Book?"

"They predate the Book, Piper," Leo answered. "It is unlikely that any Halliwell ever had to deal with them. As for the shape Orexio will take, it depends on what you are feeling at the time. Today you felt guilty about Prue, but who knows what will be foremost on your mind tomorrow?"

"What did Lavinia see?" Phoebe asked suddenly, shrewdly. She could tell from Leo's emotions that there was more to the story, more to all this than he had told them.

"The rest of the rumor says that Lavinia, when she looked upon Orexio, saw the Source himself," Leo replied. He glanced quickly at Wyatt, hesitant to say any more about this in front of his son. But Wyatt seemed oblivious to the conversation, so he explained, "According to the myth, before Lavinia and Orexio were married, Lavinia and the Source were lovers. She left him for Orexio, but she still harbored some feelings for him. She was driven mad by grief after Orexio died and she did not realize what she was doing. When she came back to her senses, she was horrified that she had disfigured him, and that was why she fled the battle."

"Bet Orexio was thrilled about that," Paige quipped, tilting her head to the side with a wry smile.

Leo walked over to the sofa and sat down. Piper had resumed pacing, and Phoebe was now leaning against the far wall, watching the three of them with a scrutinizing stare. Paige still stood next to the potions' cabinet, her arms folded across her chest, mulling over everything Leo had said.

"Again, the rumor says that Orexio was furious that she still harbored these feelings and tried to vanquish her. She left him, and he started feeling guilty about that and tried to win her back."

"Quite the sordid love triangle," Piper deadpanned.

"Who knew demons reacted so violently to love?" Paige agreed.

"I did," Phoebe said. All eyes turned to her, but she wasn't looking at them anymore, simply staring down at the floor. No one said his name, but the reminder of Cole settled in the room between them all, making the silence awkward and uncomfortable.

Leo broke the silence, hurrying on with the story, "Lavinia refused to return to Orexio. Whether she was angry at him or simply did not want to have to look at him and see the Source, I don't know. Like I said, this is a myth. But apparently Orexio vowed that he would somehow fix his appearance and win her back if it took him all of eternity to do it."

"So why did he attack us and how do we stop him?" Paige questioned, already thinking ahead towards a battle plan. She didn't know if she would have the strength to vanquish something wearing her mother's face, even if she knew it wasn't her mother. But she had to pretend like she could do it, because she could see that Phoebe and Piper were also wavering of they would be able to vanquish this demon, and she didn't want to dishearten them anymore than necessary.

"Somehow, he must think that we can help him win her back," Piper answered.

"I don't know how to stop him," Leo admitted. "I have no idea how he can be vanquished. Legend doesn't have that small detail." He opened his mouth to say something else, than paused with a slight frown. Piper noticed this and gave him a questioning stare, and he said aloud, "I think Chris is waking up."

"I'll go check on him and bring him up here if he is awake," Piper said. "In the meantime, you guys try to come up with a plan." She turned and left the attic.

* * *

_Manor sunroom, present day…_

Chris blinked and rubbed his bleary eyes, trying to focus on the world as he woke from sleep. He was alone in the sunroom of the Manor, but somehow he discovered that he could sense the presences of the three sisters and Leo in the attic above him. He rose to his feet, swaying slightly, but feeling much better now than he had before sleeping. His headache was gone, and the haunting memories seemed almost bearable now.

He walked over to the mantle. His eyes were drawn to a picture on the wall in front of him. It showed Piper, Leo, and Wyatt, all smiling brightly towards the camera. It must have been taken soon after Wyatt was born, and he was wrapped up in a worn yellow blanket with tiny blue ducks on it.

Chris ran his finger slowly over the photograph, tracing the contours of Piper's face.

"How do you do it?" a voice asked him suddenly, and he started, not realizing that he was not alone in the room. "How do you see them, day after day, and pretend that they don't mean anything to you?"

Chris spun around, and he found himself staring at that last person he had ever expected to see. It was as though she had stepped directly out of his memories. She looked almost the same, and yet somehow different, but he couldn't explain what it was. She was colder and warmer and just… inexplicably real and familiar and distant and foreign all at the same time.

The word tumbled from his lips before he had a chance to even think, "Bianca?"

And he was hit with a sudden memory, a flashback to darker times.

"_Who are you?" Chris demanded, backing away from the approaching assassin. She was circling him like a cat tracking a mouse, her eyes filled with an inhuman light._

"_Who am I doesn't really matter," she answered. "It's what I want that is important."_

"_Is that what my darling brother has taught you? That you don't matter? You're unimportant, expendable?" Chris asked, stalling for time. He couldn't orb away, he'd tried that several times and she always managed to follow his orb trail and appear next to him wherever he went. But she was a trained assassin and he doubted he would win in a hand-to-hand combat either._

"_That's what life has taught me, you little fool," she snarled, "and it is a lesson you would do well to learn."_

He came back to the present with a resounding jolt and stared at the woman he knew he loved. He couldn't remember much about her, but his heart beat faster and his breath came quicker as he stood in her presence.

"What are you doing here?" Chris asked.

"I'm here to bring you home," Bianca answered. She watched him warily, her eyes traveling from his face to the picture behind him and then back. She stared at those brilliant green eyes and saw something in them. Or rather, she saw something that wasn't there. The absence of the darker Chris, the one who had seen hell and lived to tell the tale. His jade green eyes were soft and cautious and kind and so very different from what she remembered.

This was Chris, _her_ Chris, and yet… somehow… he wasn't.

"Home?" Chris asked. His memories of the future were neither pleasant nor welcoming, and he sincerely doubted that he would ever actually want to go home. He looked away, stalling for time. "How did you find me?"

"You know the answer to that, Chris," Bianca replied, stepping closer to him. She reached up and brushed a few strands of hair out of his eyes and gave him a gentle smile. "I'll always find you." Then she turned away abruptly and added, "Besides, this is your house, isn't it?"

"No," Chris answered. The words came to his lips before he could comprehend them, and he knew that what he was saying was the truth, even if he couldn't explain where that knowledge came from. "This is what I wanted my home to be. This is what we were trying to save for our future. Do you remember that?"

Again, Bianca gave him a scrutinizing stare. "We were naïve to think we could change anything," she said coldly. "To stop Him? Impossible."

"I don't believe that," Chris countered. "And you didn't either."

"Well I do now," Bianca answered unemotionally. She leaned back against the arm of the sofa, resting her hands on the cushions. She was looking at him, and he had the distinct sensation that she could see straight through him skin and into his mind and soul. She confirmed this suspicion when she asked, "What happened to you?"

"My fiancée just appeared and told me that she wanted to drag me back to the hell that is our future," Chris answered, fighting to gain some kind of understanding for the situation. "A place where I will be killed." He thought about the sisters, upstairs with Leo. Should he call for help? Would they even be able to help?

He decided against it. He needed to do this on his own. Even without his memories, he knew not to spill secrets. And Bianca was one secret he didn't want to have to explain to anyone else. She was one secret he wanted to keep for himself.

"No," Bianca answered quickly, reassuringly. "He gave me His word He wouldn't hurt you."

Who was this 'He,' Chris wondered, and how did the two of them know each other? He glanced behind him again, looking at the picture of Piper, Leo, and Wyatt. What was it Bianca had asked him? How he could see these people every day and pretend like he just didn't care? Was he supposed to care? Did they mean something to him in the future?

"Please, Chris," Bianca continued. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be."

_Chris stared at her for a long time, trying to understand what she was saying to him. "So that's it?" he choked out, hurt and devastated. "You're just going to leave me? Go back to Him?"_

"_Chris," Bianca whispered, reaching a hand for him, "you know I wouldn't if there was any other way." He stepped back from her, and she flinched at his rejection. "He has my entire clan in his control, Chris. How am I suppose to leave them?"_

"_There is another way. There could be," Chris begged. "We just have to find it."_

"_We don't have the time," Bianca answered. "My family doesn't have the time." She brushed a few stray tears out of her eyes. "He knows what to use as leverage against me, Chris. I have to stay on his side or he'll…" She shook her head. "I'm sorry."_

"_I love you," Chris whispered._

"_Please, Chris," Bianca pleaded, "Don't make this any harder than it has to be."_

"How can you be so cold?" Chris demanded, spinning around to face her as the last vestiges of the memory faded. they had obviously loved each other in that memory, and it had been tearing them both apart that she would have to leave him to save her family. Throwing her own words back into her face, he demanded, "How can you just stand there and pretend like we never meant anything to each other?"

"Because I don't have a choice," Bianca spat. "Do you know what He's like, Chris? He hasn't hurt you, not the way he hurts other people. You don't understand, you haven't seen…" She trailed off and shook her head. "You've tried his patience too many times and he isn't as forgiving as he used to be." She moved away from him, running a hand through her hair. This was harder than she thought it would be, but the strangest sensation was still plaguing the edges of her consciousness, telling her that something was amiss.

"So how are you going to take me back?" Chris asked quietly. He didn't know anything about time travel. Would a giant portal appear in the middle of the room? Would he be sucked into some whirlpool or magic? Would she simply spirit him away as quickly as she herself had appeared?

"He wrote a new spell because of you," Bianca answered quietly. "One that works both ways."

Chris hesitated. Clearly that was supposed to mean something to him, but it didn't. He stayed silent, waiting for her to say something else, to reveal what was so special about any of this.

"Aren't you touched?" she asked, sarcasm dripping from her words. "He's gone to a lot of trouble to bring you back."

Chris swallowed. He had no idea who this guy was or why exactly He was so important to the Big Bad in the future, but it was starting to scare him. What connection could he possibly have with someone who was evil? Then another thought occurred to him. What if there wasn't really a good and evil? What if the magical world was just as gray as the nonmagical one? What if there was more to the story than met the eye? Could this guy not really be so horrible after all?

And yet, He had turned Bianca against her fiancé. Didn't that mean something?

"Yeah," he muttered under his breath, "I see that."

Bianca looked at him. For a beat, she said nothing, just held his gaze. "You know," she said finally, "you don't have to trust me, but this really is for the best."

"How?" he asked. He shot a quick look over his shoulder towards the stairs. Would the sisters come down any time soon?

"Because this is your only chance to live," Bianca answered softly. "If I fail, He'll just keep sending more assassins after you, and all they will have to bring home is a body."

Well, there goes the idea that this guy could be good. Chris walked over to the sofa and sat down on it, still keeping his gaze trained on Bianca. He loved her. He didn't even remember who she was, and he loved her with all his heart and soul. And he could see, reflected in her eyes, a glimmer of that same love. But it was covered by ice and determination and something else he couldn't identify.

The one thing he was sure he had known about himself had been his feelings for Bianca, and now he wasn't even convinced that those were the same anymore.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "There's nothing in the future for me to go back to anyway." Nothing he remembered, nothing he understood. No family, no friends, just brief glimpses at a life he might have had.

If only he could remember…

She was by his side in a flash, a thin dagger appearing in her hand. He backed away in surprise, but as he was sitting it was hard to evade her. She held the dagger to his throat, her eyes blazing.

"Who_are_ you?" she spat. "Because you sure as hell aren't my Chris."

"What are you talking about?" Chris asked, trying to shove her away. She slapped his hand, causing it to sting viciously, and he pulled it into his chest. His eyes were still fixed on the dagger she held at his throat.

"My Chris would never have said that," Bianca said firmly. "My Chris would never have just decided that there was nothing left in the future for him to fight for, nothing he wanted to see. My Chris wouldn't have chosen death by the hand of all his brother's assassins."

"And_my_ Bianca wouldn't have turned against me," Chris shot back, again speaking without thinking about the words.

At that moment, a creak on the stairs caught Bianca's attention, and she looked up to see Piper appearing on the landing of the second floor.

"Hey!" Piper cried, raising her hands to vanquish the demon who had an athame to her witch-lighter's throat. But the strange girl shimmered away before Piper could attack her, and Chris winced and lifted a hand to his throat, gently touching the place where the knife had been.

The room was silent.

Then Piper hurried down the stairs, rushing towards Chris. Her maternal instincts came out, and no matter how much she may have disliked Chris Perry when he had all his memories, she couldn't deny the strange desire to protect that was welling in her chest now.

Chris looked up at Piper, his eyes wide. Bianca's words kept running through his head, the last sentence she had uttered to him.

_My Chris wouldn't have chosen death by the hand of all his brother's assassins._

His brother. The evil from the future was his brother? Could that even be right? What did it mean? Why? How?

"_I say we just kill the brat," the man hissed, glaring at the others who had gathered around him. "Kill him and be done with it."_

"_It's not that simply, Hank," a voice said, and all eyes turned towards the speaker. A man walked into the room, tall and dark-skinned and glaring. "Even if we could condone murder, we still wouldn't have the power to vanquish him."_

"_Oh, please, Daryl," Hank retorted heatedly, "you spent too much time with the boy's family to realize that he is just a cold-blooded killer. Anyone with magic should be destroyed." He narrowed his eyes at Daryl and added, "And anyone who sympathizes with magic users is just as much a traitor and a killer as our new _Lord_."_

"_That killer is my brother," Chris said, stepped around Daryl and marching into the room, "and you are just as bigoted and hate-filled as he is." He leveled a gaze at all the others surrounding him. "Need I remind you that it is my family's magic that is protecting you all right now? If you think that protection should be destroyed, you're more than welcome to leave and try your hand at surviving without me." No one moved. He gave a satisfied nod. "Good."_

"Chris? What happened? Who was she?" Piper asked, kneeling by his side.

He stared Piper straight in the eye and felt disgust and horror for how easily the lie slipped from his trembling lips. "I don't know."

* * *

_Manor attic, present day…_

"And we're sure she wasn't a dark-lighter?" Paige asked, once again, as she flipped through the Book. She glanced up briefly, giving her eldest sister a questioning stare, but Piper shook her head.

"I'm sure, Paige," she answered. "This girl attacked Chris with an athame. Dark-lighters don't do that." She looked over at Chris, who was sitting, hunched over on a chair, staring out through the glass window at the darkening sky. The sun was slowly sinking, and he seemed mesmerized by the colors lightly up the clouds near the horizon. "You sure you didn't recognize her?" Piper asked, breaking into his thoughts.

Chris looked up and sighed. Twisting to face her, he nodded and said, "I didn't recognize her, but…" He gave a helpless half-shrug, and they all knew what he was saying. He didn't recognize much of anything these days. Running a hand through his hair, he asked, "Do you think I knew her?"

"It does seem like a coincidence that she would attack right after you lost your memory," Leo remarked. "Of course, it could also be related to the attack on the girls."

"So we basically have no idea who this girl is or why she attacked," Phoebe muttered. "Great."

"Tell us what happened again," Piper requested.

Chris swallowed and repeated the cover story he had invented. "I woke up and you guys weren't there, so I sat up on the sofa. I felt a lot better, and I was about to try to find you when she suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked me. She… uh… she asked where the Charmed Ones were, and when I didn't answer she put the knife to my throat. Then Piper came down and… she left."

"So she could just be after us," Phoebe mused.

"Or she could have just wanted to make sure that we weren't around to save Chris," Piper countered. "I mean, most of the times when demons are after us, they don't have trouble finding us." She gave Chris another shrewd look, but he just stared back at her, eyes innocent and tired.

"If she isn't a dark-lighter, then what else would even be after a white-lighter?" Phoebe wanted to know. She was trying to pick up emotions from Chris, but it was hard to comprehend what he was feeling. He was conflicted and upset, but she just couldn't get a good enough read to figure out what it was all about.

"I don't know," Leo replied thoughtfully. "That's what worries me."

"Well, maybe it was someone who knew he was half-witch," Paige suggested. She stared down at the last entry she had looked at and frowned. "You know, this would be a little easier if I had an idea of what the demon looked like."

"She was tan," Piper obliged, "with long dark hair and dressed in leather. She had a birthmark or a tattoo on the inside of her arm. It looked kind of like a bird."

"A bird?" Paige laughed. "So the Audubon Society is sending demons after us now?"

"Just keep looking," Piper said, waving a hand at the Book.

"I'll check with the other Elders," Leo offered. "In the meantime, you guys need to stick close to Chris. If this attack was not related to Orexio, if it was specifically against Chris, then he could still be in danger." He orbed away, and Chris stared at the spot where he had been a moment before and wondered if the Elders would know anything.

They appeared to be pretty useless so far.

"Maybe we should send Chris somewhere safe?" Paige suggested, studying Chris carefully. She didn't like the idea of leaving her vulnerable witch-lighter without any defenses. "He needs to be protected, in case she comes back."

"Maybe we should put crystals around the house. And set up a couple of protective spells," Phoebe offered. "And then one of us should stick around Chris at all times."

"I don't need a babysitter," Chris protested at the same moment that Piper nodded in agreement to Phoebe's plan.

"Just don't forget that we need to focus on vanquishing Orexio as well," Paige cautioned. She slammed the Book shut with a sigh and shook her head. "Whoever she was, I'm not going to find here in her." She walked over to the chair across from Piper and sank into it. "I can watch Chris first while I'm making some more vanquishing potions."

"Okay," Piper agreed. "I need to get to P3 tonight, but I can stick around Chris tomorrow. We should come up with a plan for dealing with Orexio tomorrow as well."

"Shouldn't you do that tonight?" Chris asked with a frown. He didn't know why, but something in his was rebelling against the idea of them putting their social lives above their Wiccan duties.

But nobody actually answered his protest.

"Okay, how about this?" Paige summed up their conversation, "Phoebe goes to talk to Jason so that she can save that relationship. Piper goes to P3 so she can save our main source of income. I will make up potions and watch Chris. Tomorrow, once we hear back from Leo, we can swap baby-sitting duties and come up with a plan of action for our demons."

"I don't need a baby-sitter. I'm not four," Chris argued, and found, much to his dismay, that no one was actually listening to him.

"Maybe Chris should sleep here tonight?" Phoebe ventured, shooting Piper a quick look. The eldest sister did not look pleased with this plan, but she nodded reluctantly, understanding the sense behind it.

As the three sisters continued to plan his life without consulting him, Chris stood up and wandered out of the attic, realizing by now that it was futile to argue with them. He walked down the stairs, stopping at the door to the bathroom, and opened it. Inside, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the thin silver band he carried with him everywhere, even though he couldn't remember anything about it. Running the pad of his finger over the smooth silver, he stared at the tiny diamond and wondered what they had been like when they were together.

He couldn't stay here, in this house. The thought came to him, suddenly, but he knew it was true. He just couldn't stay here, surrounded by the well-meaning sisters. He needed to get away from it all…

And so, without any thought to what the sisters would say when they discovered his disappearance, he orbed away.

* * *

_San Francisco Arboretum, present day_

Chris' orbs coalesced, and he sank onto the marble bench behind him. The distant sun was setting, causing shadows to fall across the grass, turning the columns and the statue of the angel a dull red. His mind was filled with so many questions he thought it might actually explode, and he rested his forehead on the palm of his hands, elbows propped up on his knees.

"You know," a very familiar voice announced, "you really shouldn't orb in public. It could end up with you dead. Or worse."

Chris twisted around and watched as Bianca stepped out from behind the marble angel. She walked towards him, her movements lithe and graceful. Every muscle in her body was tensed, as though she was ready to attack or flee at the first sign of trouble. But her face was calm and collected, and her eyes were pinned on Chris.

"What's worse than death?" Chris asked.

Bianca raised one eyebrow at him, something unidentified flickering through her eyes. "You used to tell me that spending the rest of your life never knowing if you could have saved your brother would be far worse than even the slowest, most painful death." She gave an ironic smile, her features reflecting a sudden wistful reminiscence, and she added, "That was how you convinced me to help you with this stupid idea."

"And I take it this is you withdrawing your help?" Chris shot back, his words dripping with sarcasm.

Again, Bianca gave him a long, hard stare. "Let's be honest with each other, Chris," she said finally. She took a seat next to him on the bench and reached out tentatively, her hand gently covering his own. "I'm guessing some kind of memory loss?"

"What?" Chris asked, confused and worried about her seemingly random comment.

Bianca shook her head. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice? You're eyes are different, Chris. They're lighter and… less haunted. Like you haven't lived through our future, haven't been torn apart inside by what is happening to it… and to your family."

Chris swallowed and looked away. "It wasn't magical," he said softly, "so Leo couldn't heal me."

Bianca nodded. "What do you remember?" she asked cautiously.

"Bits and pieces of things," Chris answered. "Feelings, mostly. Impressions, emotions." He faced Bianca completely, taking in her concerned eyes, the slight smile on her lips, the tilt of her head. "My heart tells me that I can trust you."

"Does it?" Bianca whispered, forcing her face to remain calm and blank. The last thing she wanted was to project her conflicting thoughts to Chris before she made a decision as to her next plan of action. Part of her wanted to live up to Chris' expectations, to help him willingly, blindly, because she loved him. But the other part knew that their was a bounty of Chris' life and she was running out of time to bring him home. She could lie to him, manipulate him, and get him to walk through that portal without a fight. It might ruin their relationship once all his memories came back, but it would save his life.

She stood suddenly, pulling away and looking towards the sinking sun.

"Do you know who your parents are? Who your brother is?" she asked.

Wordlessly, Chris shook his head.

Bianca looked back at him. His hair, untidy and unkempt, fell over his forehead in all directions. His eyes, so large and helpless, stared up at her with utter devotion.

She made her decision.

"Your name," she said matter-of-factly, "is Christopher Perry Halliwell and you are the younger brother of Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, the current overlord of the world. Piper and Leo are your parents."

Chris' mouth dropped open. Of everything he expected her to say, this had not even crossed his mind. "Oh," was all he managed to say.

"I'm your fiancée. I'm a Phoenix. I come from an elite clan of assassin witches. We met because I was working for your brother and he sent me after you," Bianca continued. She drew a slow breath, looked Chris in the eye, and continued in a steady voice, praying Chris would not sense the lies, "You ruled as his second-in-command. You tried to seize power from him a year ago because you thought you could rule better. During this fight, you accidentally killed one of Wyatt's childhood friends. He was furious, and you fled. In a blind rage, he threatened to kill you. I helped you escape back here, to the past, where I knew you would be safe."

"I killed someone?" Chris asked in a small voice, horrified at what she was saying.

Bianca sighed. "It was an accident," she repeated. "You both overreacted to the situation and…" She drifted off for a moment, contemplating her next statement. After a momentary pause, she explained, "When you were very young, demons attacked and killed a lot of your family. By coming to the past, you were hoping to find this threat and eliminate it before…" Again, she trailed off.

Chris completed her sentence, "Before it eliminated us."

"You and Wyatt never really had guidance," Bianca said. "You didn't have people to help you perfect your magic, help you control it. If your family had been there, you would never have lost control, never killed anyone. But Wyatt… he's supposed to lead the magical world, it is what he was destined for, but he just doesn't know how. He needs his family's help, and you… you came back here because you wanted to fix everything."

"But I haven't fixed anything," Chris protested. "Why do you want to take me back? Why would Wyatt want me to give up on this?" He frowned, and added in confusion, "And why would Wyatt kill me if I refused? I'm his brother."

Bianca smiled sadly. "You're susceptible to evil, Chris. You both are, you and Wyatt. The only way you can keep the two of you sane is if you are together." She sat down next to him again, and reached up to brush away a strand of his hair. Resting her hand on the side of his face, she murmured, "I finally convinced Wyatt that you never really wanted to hurt him. You were just trying to do what was best. You saw the strain the leadership was taking on him and you wanted to help. He's ready to forgive you, if you come back. But if you don't come back… Chris, you've been corrupted by evil before. It is insidious, it comes to you when you least expect it. Anyone with power faces that risk. Wyatt would kill you to stop you from going to the other side because he knows that the good in you would never survive if you killed again. And he knows that right now, you would rather be dead than be evil. It is destroying him inside, but he… He wants what is best for you."

She stared deep into his eyes. She would go to hell for these lies. He would never forgive her, if he ever learned the truth.

But she would not let him die.

She had to convince him to come back, to join Wyatt. He would be safe. Who cared what he thought of her after that? He would be alive.

She would suffer an eternity in hell, she would never let him die.

Chris stared back at her, absorbing everything she had said. Some of it made sense, and some of it was just too much to truly comprehend. A lot of what she said sounded right, but some of it sounded… off. Like somehow it wasn't the full truth. "But why do I remember bits and pieces of people calling Wyatt evil?" he asked.

Bianca looked away. "Mortals. They never really understood… magic was exposed at one point, and they thought we were all evil. They tried to kill a lot of us and… Wyatt fought back. He had to, or we would all be dead. He brainwashed some of them, erased memories of others… He didn't hurt people, at least not physically, but people still protested. They wanted us dead, but we were the monsters for trying to stay alive." The ending words were dripping with bitterness and hatred.

"I could still save us," Chris whispered, almost begging. He didn't want to go back to this future where everything was a struggle.

"You tried, Chris," Bianca replied, "but you didn't succeed. You've run out of time."

"I can't just give up!" Chris cried angrily. Even without his memories, he knew it wasn't in his nature to walk away from a battle. Not while there was still hope.

"What happened in the past, Chris… well, it happened. It is over and done with. And it doesn't matter how we ended up with our future. All that matters is that we did end up with it, and it is our responsibility to make the best of what we do have, not be tempted by dreams of what could have been."

Chris rose and walked away from the bench. The sun was completely gone now, and the sky was dark and gray. The moon was beginning its ascent, slowly climbing the sky.

He didn't know if he believed Bianca. Her words bothered him, tugging at his conscious as though to awaken him to something he had forgotten. He didn't want to believe that she would blatantly lie to him, but didn't the entire situation just seem wrong?

And yet, one look at the adoration shining in her eyes, and he knew that, no matter what she said now, no matter what he believed of her words, she did truly love him.

He made a decision. "If I go back, can you promise me that you and Wyatt will keep from becoming evil?"

"I can promise you that I will give my entire body and soul to keeping you safe," Bianca answered.

At last, Chris gave a slow nod. "When do we leave?"

* * *

_Underworld, 2025_

_Cole sank to his knees, pressing one hand against the wall to steady himself and the despair rushed through his body. He drew several deep breaths, his heart pounding uncontrollably in his chest, sending blood coursing through his boiling veins. He was torn by fury and fear, too fervent emotions that battled for a greater claim to his mind._

_Wyatt had captured Bianca. It had occurred perhaps a few weeks ago. It had been one month since he had learned from Melinda that the Phoenix had been outcast from the Resistance. He did not know how long Bianca could have avoided Wyatt without the Resistance to protect her. He doubted it was more than a week._

_But that was not what worried him. No, what terrified him now was that his contacts in the Underworld had reported a strong shift in magic, as though a powerful spell had been cast. And this coincided perfectly with information that had leaked out of Wyatt's followers about a time traveling spell Wyatt had written._

_When the two pieces of evidence were taken together, they could only mean one thing._

_Bianca had gone to the past_

_It had taken three weeks for Wyatt to break her. The Phoenix was strong, stronger than almost anyone else he had ever met, and he could only imagine the things Wyatt had done to convince her to change allegiances again. He pitied her, pitied what she had gone through, and what she would go through now in order to bring Chris back to the future._

_Because he knew she would do anything in the world to keep him safe, including sacrificing herself. And he was also pretty certain it might actually come to that._

_But if Bianca died and left Chris in Wyatt's hands… Wyatt would break Chris, and with the two Halliwell brothers side by side…_

_Was the world already lost?_

"_You didn't really think you could change this, did you?"_

_Cole turned and stared at the woman standing in front of him. She was tall and regal, with long dark hair and shining black eyes that stood out against her pale white skin. She gave a quiet smile, her expression conveying some deeper understanding of something Cole could not understand._

"_You can stare into your crystal ball all you want, seer," Cole snarled, "but I still refuse to yield to your predictions of destiny. I will always fight."_

"_Pity," she said. "You always were reckless, but I didn't expect you to be stupid as well. I suppose you picked it up from the rest of your family. The Halliwells were never the smartest of witches."_

_Cole climbed to his feet and glared at her. "The Halliwells are not my family," he said pointedly. Phoebe had never forgiven him, never taken him back, and he couldn't stand the majority of this next generation. Only Chris deserved his compassion. The others were too selfish, too arrogant, too immature to warrant anything other than contempt._

"_Not in name, no," the seer agreed. "But you love Chris like an uncle loves his nephew. And you never stopped loving Phoebe. You still are part of that family, in more ways than one."_

"_Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Cole snarled._

_The Seer shrugged, raising her hands in surrender. "Information is power, Cole. And that is a little bit of information for you, something that might serve you well in the future. You still are their family, whether you admit it or not."_

_Cole hesitated. He knew better than to refuse the warnings or advice of this particular seer. She might be cryptic and annoying, but she was rarely false in her offerings. If this was something he needed to accept, then he would do it. Somehow, it would help him in the future._

_He nodded slowly, and the seer gave a satisfied smile and turned to leave._

_Cole called out after her, "Thank you, Lavinia."_


	6. Ties that Bind, Ties that Break

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Six: Ties that Bind, Ties that Break

_Underworld, distant past_

"_What have you done?" Orexio spat, advancing on the shaking demonic seer standing before him. "How could you betray me like this, Lavinia? How could you?" He raised a hand, a fireball appearing centimeters above his palm._

_At that, Lavinia raised her eyes to him, haughty and filled with righteous anger. "Betray you? I saved you, I gave you a body!"_

_Orexio laughed coldly. "And when you look upon me, you see the Source. Is that what you wanted, Lavinia? Do you still want him so badly that you were willing to make me look like him?" He threw the fireball and it passed by the space just to the right of Lavinia's head, smashing against the cave wall and leaving a scorched black mark._

"_You arrogant fool!" Lavinia snarled, sweeping out one hand and telekinetically forcing Orexio backwards. "The magics went awry, as I warned you they might. Do you really believe that I did this to spite you?"_

_Orexio stumbled, but righted himself instantly._

"_Traitorous leech!" Orexio snarled. "I made you the Queen of Zanbar. You were the most powerful Seer in the world and that wasn't enough for you, was it? You wanted more."_

"_There was a point when I wanted the Source," Lavinia agreed bitterly, her words venomous. "There was a time when I thought him more of a demon than you could ever be. But then I fell in love with you, and I thought you loved me back. I forgot about the Source, I thought he was nothing more than second best. Funny, but I think you've just proven me wrong."_

_Orexio threw another fireball, this time directly at her heart. She stepped aside easily and countered with her own attack. The ensuing battle was brief, but furious, and in the end they both pulled away covered in bruises._

_Lavinia shook her head, long hair streaming about her face. "Enjoy eternity alone, Orexio," she hissed, before shimmering away._

* * *

_Manor attic, present day_

"I'm going to kill him," Piper huffed angrily as she walked over to the sofa and took a seat next to Paige. "How could he just take off like that?"

"You're sure he's not here?" Phoebe asked. She was now the one standing at the podium, but instead of flipping through the pages of the Book, she was leaning against it, staring thoughtfully at her sisters.

"I checked every room in the house," Piper answered. Glancing over at Leo, she asked, "Can you sense him at all yet?"

Leo shook his head. Chris had fallen off his radar about half-an-hour ago, which was what had first alerted him and the sisters to the possibility that something was wrong with their neurotic witch-lighter. But he hadn't answered any of their calls, and scrying hadn't done any good either.

"Is he in the Underworld?" Paige asked. She had no idea if Chris knew how to get down there, but it was the only place he could be where Leo would be unable to sense him.

"Maybe," Leo answered. "But…" He hesitated, closing his eyes and concentrating on Chris. He could feel the young man's presence, a flickering in his mind, but he couldn't locate it. "It feels more like he is blocking me," he said with a frown.

"How does he know how to do that?" Piper demanded warily.

"I don't think he does," Leo answered quickly, trying to reassure Piper before she became too suspicious. "I think he subconsciously doesn't want to be found, and his magic is picking up on that and acting accordingly." He gave a small shrug and added, "At least I can tell you that he isn't hurt."

"He knows something," Piper decided.

Phoebe and Leo both stared at her, waiting for her to continue, but Paige interrupted.

"Or maybe he's just scared. He did get attacked today, after all," the youngest Charmed One said. She was unwilling to immediately distrust Chris just because they couldn't understand his motives. If he had done something evil, she would be the first person to vanquish him. But until then, the poor kid didn't have his memories. They needed to cut him some slack.

"Oh, come on, Paige," Piper scoffed. "You really believe that? It's more than just a coincidence that he disappears after that woman attacked him. He knows something, and he's hiding it."

"I agree," Phoebe said softly, giving Paige an apologetic look. "Before, when Chris was up here, I could feel some of his emotions and they were… I can't quite explain it, but it was like he was confused about something, and didn't want to talk to us."

Paige glanced from one sister to the other. It was obvious that they both thought that Chris was hiding something, and she couldn't deny that it did seem like a strong possibility. But all the same, she didn't think it was a good idea to jump to any conclusions until they had actual proof. Or, at the very least, until they had more than vague circumstantial evidence.

"Fine," she said with a shrug.

"Come on, Paige, you don't actually believe he's completely innocent in all this, do you?" Piper demanded, giving her youngest sister a scrutinizing stare. After seeing how vulnerable Chris was without his memories, she had wanted to trust him herself. But with his suspicious disappearance, she couldn't help but wonder…

"Honestly," Paige replied softly, "I don't know what I believe right now."

* * *

_Manor attic, present day (nighttime)_

By the time Bianca finished drawing the triqueta on the wall, Chris was beginning to have very serious second thoughts. He paced the room nervously, listening to the squeak of his footsteps on the floorboards. It had started raining, and the drops of water beat down on the roof and against the windowpane in a steady rhythm. The night sky, covered by clouds, offered only the faintest light coming from the partially obscured moon.

The Phoenix turned towards him and tossed the piece of chalk onto the table by her side. "Ready?" she asked softly.

Chris averted his eyes, gazing down at the floor instead. "I can't…" he whispered. "I just…"

Bianca crossed towards him, and took both his hands in her own. "Chris, baby, it's okay to be nervous. You don't remember any of the future, you don't remember Wyatt. You're walking back to this whole life that you don't know."

Chris nodded. The anxiety that plagued him must simply be a response to those fears. After all, everyone would be nervous if they had to start all over with a life they had already lived.

He gave Bianca a smile, slightly forced, and said, "I'm ready."

It was, unfortunately, just that moment that Piper walked in the attic door to investigate the noises she'd heard from her bedroom on the floor below. Everything froze for a moment, then Piper reacted quickly and flicked her wrists, causing Bianca to explode into hundreds of tiny pieces.

He couldn't stop himself. Before he even realized that what he was doing would give away his secret completely, Chris had cried out in horror, "Bianca! No!"

"You_know_ her?" Piper sputtered, shock and betrayal evident on her face. She stepped back as though she had been slapped, her eyes widening in horror. "We trusted you! You didn't really lose your memory, did you? Was this all some ploy to get to Wyatt?"

Whatever Chris was going to say was cut off by the sudden reemergence of several small black dots which swirled like a tiny tornado in the air and then formed into Bianca. The Phoenix glanced from Chris to Piper, reassuring herself that neither one had hurt the other yet. But this was a difficult situation, and she needed to take control of it quickly.

"You can reform?" Piper demanded. Striding over to the table against the wall, she seized a potion's bottle and hurtled it at Bianca. The Phoenix conjured an athame and sent it flying through the air, slicing the potion bottle in two and then burying itself in the far wall.

The door to the attic crashed open again, and Paige and Phoebe came rushing through, prepared for a fight. They froze at the sight of Bianca and Piper glaring at each other, and Chris standing in the background, unsure and bewildered by the recent turn of events.

"Uh, guys? What's going on?" Paige ventured at last.

"Chris lied to us," Piper spat, still staring coldly at Bianca. "He apparently knows his demonic attacker. They're _friends_."

"I am not a demon," Bianca said wearily, with the air of someone who had had this particular argument many times before. She raised a hand and the athame stuck in the wall disappeared as she conjured it back. Holding it tightly, she turned to Chris and said, "Let's go."

Piper raised her hands to freeze Bianca, but the Phoenix just kept walking towards Chris. She glanced over her shoulder at Piper and sighed. "Didn't I tell you that I'm not a demon. You can't freeze a witch."

"I thought you had lost your memories!" Phoebe said, finding her voice suddenly and turning to Chris with an accusatory attack. "How do you know who she is? Why are you going with her? Are you a demon?"

"I'm his fiancée, you self-centered idiot," Bianca snapped, her temper getting the better of her. "And I am taking him back to the future where we both belong."

"So that's it? You're just going to leave?" Paige asked incredulously. "I guess saving Wyatt wasn't that important to you after all."

Her unfeeling words cut through Chris like a knife, and he found himself retorting in fury, "I thought you wanted me out of here. I thought you wanted to be left alone so that you could enjoy your _normal_ lives while the entire world goes to hell. Well, here's your chance. Enjoy it, because it won't last long." He didn't know where the words had come from or why he was so bitter, but he could feel the anger boiling inside of him, forming a hard ball in his stomach. Some memory he had forgotten had clearly made him feel this way, and although he couldn't recall any particular events, the emotions were still there.

"Is that a threat?" Piper asked in a deathly quiet voice, taking a step forward. She was holding a potion in her hands, poised to throw it at a moment's notice.

"It's a warning," Bianca cut in before Chris could answer. The last thing she wanted was to start a fight now. They needed to walk through that portal and leave the past to figure itself out. Nothing else mattered besides getting home in one piece.

Without waiting for anyone to say anything else, Piper threw the second potion's vile. Bianca flung her athame, shimmering out at the same time. Again, the knife cut cleaning through the potion's bottle and continued sailing towards Piper. The eldest Charmed One raised her hand to freeze the knife, and then Bianca appeared in front of her, snatching the knife from the air and pressing it against her throat.

"Wow," Phoebe said, unable to stop herself, "She's good."

Bianca allowed herself the tiniest smirk of pleasure. "You have no idea," she answered. Paige took a step forward, but Bianca slanted a warning look to her and said, "Careful. I can kill her in half the time it takes you to even think about it."

"But we'd still be able to come up with a potion to vanquish you," Paige countered.

"Is that a risk you're willing to take? Hmm?" Bianca asked calmly.

Behind them, Chris continued to watch the entire exchange. The initial fear he had felt when Bianca attacked Piper was gone now because he knew that, no matter what the Charmed One did, Bianca would not kill her. But even though he was relieved on that account, he still couldn't quite understand several aspects of what had just happened. Bianca had survived being blown to pieces, the sisters had turned against him in the blink of an eye, and suddenly he was filled with all this bitter anger at them. His emotions were out of control.

What was it Bianca had told him? That he was susceptible to evil? At that moment, he could truly believe it. The anger had made him say and do reckless things, and he just wanted these conflicting emotions to stop battling within him.

"Come on, Bianca," Chris said suddenly, his soft voice startling the others who had practically forgotten that he was there. "Let's go back to the future. Just let her go." Bianca hesitated, still glaring angrily and Piper, and Chris pressed, "If you kill here, there won't be a future for me to go back to. You _know_ that."

Bianca nodded silently. She would never hurt Piper, because no matter what she had told Chris, and no matter what he believed now, he had adored his mother. However…

She leaned forward, lowering her voice so that only Piper could hear her words. "Now, if you don't mind, I am going to take my fiancé back to the future, to the hell that you had a hand in creating, because it is the only way to keep him alive."

"What are you talking about?" Piper asked.

Bianca rolled her eyes. "You'll see if you live long enough," she answered loudly enough for everyone to hear. Then she dropped her arm, letting the athame fall away from Piper's throat. Waving her hand at the triqueta behind her, she activated the portal and stepped over to Chris.

The two of them locked hands, and without a backwards glance at the three sisters, walked into the future.

* * *

_Manor attic, 2025_

_The future was dark. It was night, and the attic was almost silent. Several demons stood in two parallel lines, staring at the chalk triqueta, waiting for it to glow blue with magic. Behind the demons, another man, tall and imposing, with shoulder length blonde hair and icy blue eyes, observed the wall with a calm expression._

_And then there was a flash of blue, a sudden burst of light that illuminated every dusty corner of the attic. The space in between the chalk lit up, and a portal appeared. Two people stepped through it. The woman and man paused and looked around for a moment, then the lines of demons parted and the tall blonde strode determinedly forward._

_He looked briefly at the man, then turned his attention to the woman. Her eyes seemed to be telling him something, and he frowned slightly. To the demons, he said, "They're no threat to me," and the others shimmered away, leaving only the three witches. He glanced again at the two people in front of him. "Welcome home, Chris."_

_The man named Chris raised his chin ever so slightly. "Hello, Wyatt," he replied._

"_Wyatt," the woman said, stepping forward quickly, "I think Chris has had a stressful afternoon. Maybe we should talk after he has had a chance to rest." Her suggestion seemed to be met by approval from Wyatt, who nodded slowly. Pressing her luck, she said softly, "I need to talk to you as well."_

"_Of course," Wyatt said. "I…" He waved his hand at Chris, and the witch-lighter suddenly collapsed, unconscious. The woman, standing close enough to catch her fiancé before he fell, jumped forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders moments before he hit the floor._

"_Was that really necessary?" she demanded hotly, carefully laying Chris out on the floor. "You could have just let him sleep on his own."_

"_You forget your place, Bianca," Wyatt threatened._

_Bianca raised flashing eyes to Wyatt's face and spat, "I brought your brother back, alive and in one piece. And willing and ready to join you. Don't threaten me."_

_At any other point in time, Wyatt would have reacted instantly and viciously to her defiant statement. But he was too intrigued by her words to punish her for her comment. Instead, he folded his arms over his chest and asked in an icy tone, "Is that so?"_

"_He lost his memory before I came back to him," Bianca explained, reaching down and pushing a few strands of hair out of Chris' eyes. "He didn't remember anything, so I made up a back story. Something that would make him more… agreeable… to your cause."_

_Wyatt arched an eyebrow, a sneer fixing on his features. "Do tell," he prompted._

_Bianca sighed. "Most of you family was killed in a demonic attack when you were just a child. You went on to lead the magical world all by yourself. But it was a lot of pressure for you and for Chris, and Chris, not having the control necessary for his incredible power, went evil once or twice in the past. At one point, he lost control of his emotions and tried to take power from you. You fought back, and in the process, one of your childhood friends was killed. Chris fled, and I helped him escape to the past where he would be safe from you. We also thought that, if he could stop the demon attack that wiped out your family, then you both would have more guidance and help. But I spoke to you, and convinced you to forgive Chris for what he had done. You realized that you had banned your own brother, and all you wanted was for him to return so that you could keep him safe. So here we are…"_

_Wyatt shook his head, marveling in the lies she had so convincingly strung together. "And he believed you?" he asked curiously, still finding it difficult to comprehend that Chris would have fallen for her story._

"_He loves me," Bianca answered softly. She held his hand tightly in her own, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest and he drew deep breaths. Then she narrowed her eyes at Wyatt and said, "And for him to continue believing me, you are going to have to act like you actually care about me… and the rest of this world."_

_Wyatt huffed impatiently. "And what happens when he gets his memory back?"_

"_Not my problem," Bianca answered. "I brought him here. You do the rest."_

_Wyatt clenched his hand into a fist, telekinetically cutting off Bianca's air supply. She gasped, both hands rising to her throat, and he asked in a cool voice, "Pardon me?" Then he sent her flying across the room, crashing into the far wall. She hit her head, and the darkness encroached on her vision._

_Wyatt stared calmly at her partially stunned figure. "Listen to me, Bianca," he ordered tersely. "You've done well this time, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten your betrayal. I let you live for Chris' sake. Cross me again, and I won't be so generous." He turned his back on Bianca, kneeling down beside his brother. "Now… leave us."_

_Bianca pulled herself warily to her feet and glanced at Wyatt. She knew better than to press her luck. His hatred of her stemmed from her betrayal, but was intensified by her relationship with Chris. She was the one who had helped him escape from Wyatt, she was the one that motivated Chris now. Wyatt wouldn't hesitate to hurt her again, if he decided she was too much of a threat, and for Chris' sake, she needed to stay alive and well enough to protect him._

_She also knew Wyatt wouldn't hurt Chris, not if he was so close to having his brother back. She shimmered away, leaving the two brothers alone._

_Wyatt waited until she was gone, then he slowly shook Chris' shoulders, waking him from his magically-induced sleep. "Chris?" he whispered, forcing his voice to sound gentle and caring. "Are you alright?"_

_Chris moaned groggily and opened his eyes. "What…?" He found himself staring up at Wyatt, and the sudden urge to run gripped him so tightly that he instinctively shoved his brother away and jumped to his feet. He looked around for Bianca, but she was gone._

_Wyatt, as though reading his mind, rose as well and said, "She went to consult a healer. She panicked when you collapsed…" He trailed off with a wry grin. "Personally, I thought you were just reacting badly to the magic of the portal, but you know Bianca. She's prone to over-reacting sometimes." He held up his hands in a submissive gesture. "I'm not going to hurt you."_

_Chris blinked. Why did those words sound so wrong? Why couldn't he believe them?_

"_I'm just glad you're back," Wyatt added. "I… Chris, I'm so sorry that we fought like that. I never wanted to ban you from our home. I just… I lost control. I was terrified you were going to be corrupted by your power and I… I am so sorry." His voice broke slightly as he apologized, his words rushing into each other._

_Chris hesitated. "I'm sorry also… I think."_

"_Bianca said you lost your memory?" Wyatt asked, taking Chris by the arm and leading him towards a sofa. The two of them sat down, and Wyatt waited patiently for an explanation._

"_Leo wasn't able to heal it," Chris answered. "And I… I just don't remember much of anything." He grimaced and turned away. "Plus, Piper hated me back then so I…"_

_Wyatt titled his head to one side, regarding Chris thoughtfully. "You know, usually we call her Mom."_

_Chris flushed. "Right. Mom. I just don't… I don't remember her. Or any of them. I barely remember you or Bianca. Just flashes, emotions. I can't…" He jumped to his feet suddenly and began to pace, his body shaking with pent-up frustration and exhaustion. "I hate this. I don't even know who I am."_

"_You're Chris Halliwell," Wyatt answered. "You're my brother. Not having your memories isn't going to change that. We can figure this out, we can work through this together."_

_Chris spun around to face him, his eyes reflecting hope and fear. "We will find an answer?" he asked._

"_Of course," Wyatt answered instantly. "Come on, have I ever let you down before?" He paused, and then said with a grin, "Well, I suppose that you don't have any way of knowing the answer to that, so let me tell you that I am, without a doubt, the coolest older brother in the world."_

"_And modest," Chris quipped._

_Wyatt laughed. "Come on," he offered, "Let me take you back to the apartment. You need to rest."_

_Chris nodded, and the two of them orbed away._

* * *

_Manor, present day…_

"What the hell was that?" Piper raged for the fourth or fifth time. She shook her head, attempting to understand exactly what had happened. How could she have trusted Chris when all he did was lie to her? How could she have ever thought that he would be anything more than just a nuisance, an annoyance, or possibly even a threat.

"So… a demon, who is apparently engaged to Chris, came and took him back to the future?" Leo asked, trying to get caught up on what had happened.

"She's not a demon," Paige said, looking up from where she stood next to the Book. "According to the Book, she's a Phoenix."

"Like the mythical bird?" Phoebe questioned, confused. "I didn't see any rising from ashes or anything like that."

"The Phoenix are a clan of assassin witches," Paige said, scanning the entry. "They have a birthmark in the shape of a bird, generally considered to be a phoenix, which symbolizes their rise from Salem's ashes."

"Salem wasn't burnt," Phoebe protested, glancing over at Leo. "I thought they just hung the suspected witches."

"They did," Leo agreed, mulling over this new information. "Salem is used a metaphorical sense. The birthmark symbolizes their rise from witch hunts in general." He shook his head, lost in thought. "If she is a Phoenix, then she isn't evil, but that doesn't mean she's good either."

"Doesn't she have to be one or the other?" Piper wanted to know. She watched Wyatt sleeping in his playpen. They'd brought him up to the attic after Bianca and Chris' return to the future, wanting to keep a close eye on him until they knew for certain what had happened.

"No," Leo answered. "She's unbiased. Like a mortal, she can choose either path. Mostly, they work for demons because witches don't frequently hire assassins. But they don't have to."

"And she's engaged to Chris," Piper snarled, shaking her head and looking away from her siblings. "I can't believe I trusted him."

"I'm not sure we should write him off as evil quite yet," Paige said cautiously, giving her oldest sister a worried look. She didn't want to rush to condemn Chris, not quite yet. They didn't know enough about this new player to make hasty judgments.

"Does it really matter?" Phoebe pointed out. "He's gone back to the future. He's out of our hair now."

"Wait, we're just going to leave him?" Paige demanded, incredulous. "He could be an innocent in danger."

"He's hardly innocent," Piper countered angrily, giving Paige a glare.

Paige frowned, but before she could say anything, Phoebe spoke quietly, "I'm not sure we have much of a choice, Paige. There's no spell that can take us to the future."

"You did it once before," Paige protested. "You got burned at the stake. You told me that story."

"That was a special circumstance," Leo explained, glancing from Phoebe to Paige. "The Elders made it happen that time."

"You're an Elder," Paige said pointedly. "Make it happen."

"It isn't that easy, Paige," Leo answered. "All the Elders have to decide that it is something worth doing." He gave Piper a searching stare, trying to determine her feelings on this. He knew she felt angry and betrayed, but was she really willing to just leave Chris to his own fate, whatever it may be? "I can talk to the Elders if you want me to, but you all need to agree on this."

Phoebe walked to the podium in the center of the room, staring at the Book. She reached out for the page that detailed information about the Phoenixes, and the moment her fingers brushed the parchment, she was thrown into a premonition.

_Chris collapsed, gasping for breath, as a tall, blonde man leaned over him. Bianca rushed forward, shoving her hand into the back of the man who was attacking Chris, draining his powers. Chris struggled away, climbing to his feet, looking scared._

"What did you see?" Piper asked as soon as Phoebe opened her eyes.

The empath frowned. "Chris was being attacked. Bianca rushed to save him. Chris… he was terrified. And… betrayed? I don't know, but he looked…" She met Piper's eyes and said reluctantly, "I think he really is an innocent."

"Really?" Piper drawled.

"Look, Piper, if Phoebe got a premonition…" Paige didn't finish the sentence, waiting for Piper to draw the same conclusion that she had. Phoebe didn't get premonitions unless they were supposed to do something about it. They couldn't just ignore Chris, not now that they had this proof that they were supposed to help him.

"Fine," Piper huffed. "Leo, go see what the Elders say." She got up and stormed out of the room. Leo orbed away quickly, and Paige and Phoebe exchanged looks.

"I'll talk to her," Phoebe offered. "Maybe you should start making some all purpose potions for us. We might need them if we go after Chris." She hurried from the room, following her older sister down the stairs.

She caught up with Piper on the hallway of the second floor. Her older sister had paused, standing just outside the door to her own room, staring into it with a strange expression on her face. She turned when Phoebe approached her, and her eyes were rimmed with red, but completely dry.

"All he does is lie to us," Piper said before Phoebe had a chance to speak. "Even without his memories, he still lies. How can we consider him an innocent?"

"I don't know," Phoebe answered gently, reaching out and placing a reassuring hand on Piper's shoulder. "I want to hold him accountable for all the things he's done just as much as you do. But I can't deny that I got that premonition for a reason."

"What about Orexio? What about the demons?" Piper protested pointedly. "We have them to worry about as well. We can't rush off after Chris…" She paused reluctantly, seeing the determined look on Phoebe's face. "You really want to do this," she said with growing awareness and resignation.

"You didn't see that premonition, Piper," Phoebe answered honestly. "You didn't feel his fear."

"How do you know the premonition wasn't planted?" Piper asked in a last ditch effort to convince Phoebe not to listen to her instincts. "How do we know Chris isn't the Big Bad in the future. How do we know he isn't after us or Wyatt?"

"He's just a kid," Phoebe murmured.

Piper gave a hollow laugh. "Yeah. Just a kid who ruined by marriage to Leo and turned all our lives upside-down." She spun around, turning away from Phoebe and continued to stalk down the stairs. "I don't like this. I don't like _him_."

"And when we find him and save his sorry skin, you can beat the answers out of him yourself," Phoebe suggested with the hint of a smirk on her features.

Piper paused, then glanced over her shoulder and flashed a smile at Phoebe. "I might just do that," she answered.

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

_For a moment, Prudence Melinda Halliwell paused, one hand resting over the spell book she was reading. She glanced up, her thoughts interrupted by the strangest sensation, a tugging in her chest that she couldn't quite identify._

"_Melinda? Are you alright?"_

_The young witch turned out the sound of the question and gave a slight smile to the man who had taken a seat next to her. He was tall, with a head of wavy black hair, and dark obsidian eyes. Besides his eyes, the other defining feature of his face was the long scar that wound its way down from the tip of his hairline to just below the jaw._

"_I'm fine, Max," she said. "I just felt something strange. A magical pull."_

"_Maybe_He's_ doing something," Max suggested._

"_Maybe," Melinda agreed, her eyes hardening. She put down the book and gave Max her full attention. "Any news to report from the Underground?"_

"_Lavinia is moving around again. We have reason to believe she made contact with Cole last night," Max answered, "but have been unable to determine what passed between them. Cole has… avoided… our summons."_

_Melinda grimaced and shook her head. "He's a liability. I don't know how much longer we can let him be a member of this organization."_

"_Why did you ever let him in anyway?" Max demanded. "He is a demon."_

"_Half-demon," Melinda corrected automatically. "And we let him in because Chris trusted him." She shook her head at her older cousin's naiveté and sighed. "Any other news?"_

"_Not really," Max replied with a shrug. "Everything's been pretty quiet lately, which doesn't bode well. _He's_ planning something."_

"_Mm… wonder what it is," Melinda mused thoughtfully before turning her attention back to her book._


	7. Future Imperfect

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: IMPORTANT! So, I'll say this once again, Piper has not met Greg yet. Bianca came earlier than she did on the show, which means that Piper hasn't met the fireman, and they haven't started dating. This is important for this chapter.

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Seven: Future Imperfect

_Wyatt's Apartment, 2025_

"So… this is where we live?" Chris asked, glancing around the apartment. It was furnished almost identically to the Manor, and he had a feeling that Wyatt had done his best to recreate his childhood home here. "Um…" He glanced at Wyatt awkwardly. "Why exactly don't we live in the Manor?"

"It's a museum," Wyatt answered. They were standing in the kitchen, and he gestured for Chris to take a seat at the table while he casually waved his hands, conjuring two hamburgers. "A tribute to the Charmed Ones."

"I thought we weren't suppose to expose magic," Chris asked, accepting the plate from Wyatt. He hadn't realized quite how hungry he was until now, but his stomach began to rumble at the sight of food.

"We weren't," Wyatt agreed. "It was a… regrettable incident. And afterwards, it was too late to take it back. We couldn't undo what had been done so…" He trailed off and glanced at Chris. "Bianca didn't tell you much about my role in the magical world, did she?"

"No," Chris answered. "She really didn't tell me much of anything." He bit into the hamburger and asked, "Where is she, anyway?"

Wyatt frowned, closing his eyes and sensing for the Phoenix. Since his demons had finally caught her and brought her back to his side, she hadn't bothered blocking herself from him. He wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a show of faith, or if she simply didn't see the point anymore. But sure enough, he could easily locate her sitting on a stone bench in the small arboretum he knew was so important to her and his brother.

"She's out," Wyatt answered shortly. Chris gave him a confused look, and he continued, "She was in the past for a while, trying to get you back. She's probably just worried about her friends here. I think she went to check on them."

"How do you know that?" Chris asked.

"I can sense her," Wyatt explained. "You can too… Or, at least, you could before you lost your memories. I'll teach you how to do it soon."

Chris nodded and continued chewing. He had so many questions he wanted to ask, but right now he simply enjoyed the feeling of sitting somewhere, in a place he could call home, with his family.

Wyatt sat down across from him. He eyed Chris warily. He was fairly certain that his brother had a few memories from his past, he could see the occasional darkness that flickered through his green eyes. It would be difficult to explain those memories away, but he knew it wouldn't be impossible. He had Chris on his side now, and he wasn't about to lose his brother for anything.

"Why didn't you let me find the demon that killed our family?" Chris asked abruptly, putting down the burger and turning to Wyatt. "I could have saved us so much grief."

"Ah… yes, Bianca mentioned that you were in the past for that reason as well," Wyatt said, looking decidedly uncomfortable. He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a shaky breath. "Chris… I know you only want to help. But it is so dangerous to mess with the past. Future consequences and all that…" He gave a half-hearted shrug. "I was worried you would do more damage than good."

"I could have saved all of us!" Chris cried, pushing the food away. "Mom, Dad, our aunts…"

"You don't know that," Wyatt said grimly. He reached out and took Chris' hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "It's one of the hardest lessons to learn, Chris, but sometimes you can't escape death. If someone is fated to die on a certain day… Death will find them."

"Bianca says we're falling apart because our family isn't here to guide us," Chris countered. He paused, then asked timidly, "Do we even have any family left alive?"

Wyatt stood up and turned away, staring at the window across from them. His entire body was stiff as he answered, "We have two cousins. We don't ever see them."

"Why?" Chris pressed. "What happened?"

Wyatt shoved his hands into his pockets, his back still to Chris. "Our family was supposed to lead the magical community. Dad used to tell me that I was the reincarnation of King Arthur, and it was my duty to guide and protect this world. But then, one day, demons killed all of them… We never figured out who it was, but by the time we got back to the Manor, everyone there was dead. Aunt Phoebe's oldest daughter, Melinda, and Aunt Paige's son, Henry, were the only two who survived."

"How old was I when this happened?" Chris asked. He frowned, remembering the attack on the Heavens that he had witnessed in one of his flashes, when he called over and over for his father but no one answered. "Did Dad die with them? I thought he died Up There?"

Wyatt raised an eyebrow and turned to face Chris. "You remember the attack Up There?" Chris nodded, and Wyatt sighed. "Dad was already dead when the demons attacked us. Yes, he was killed Up There. If he had been alive, he might have been able to save Mom, to heal her."

"We don't have to talk about this right now if you don't want," Chris offered, seeing the pain in his brother's eyes. "I don't want to force you to relive this. I… I know it must be very painful."

"It is," Wyatt replied with a bitter laugh. "But you deserve to know. It is your past, your history."

Chris nodded and stared down at his plate again. He began pushing the half-eaten hamburger back and forth, now not entirely sure that he wanted to know the story anyway. It might be his past and his history, but it was obviously painful and cruel. Maybe he was better off not remembering anything.

"Anyway, shortly after that, magic was exposed. The Elders weren't able to stop it, or to help us. The world started to think we were evil, all of us. They began burning suspected witches at the stake." Wyatt rolled his eyes and fell back into his seat, slamming his hands against the table. "Demons were having a field day, killing left and right and watching witches take the blame for it. Dad said it was my job to protect the world and I… failed."

"You were just a kid, Wy," Chris said, the nickname falling easily from his lips. "How could they expect you to protect an entire world?"

Wyatt didn't answer the question. Instead, he continued the story coldly, "I had to stop it. So I started raising an army, and I attacked the demons. I forced them to back off, forced them under my control." His eyes became dark blue and flashed dangerously as he spoke. "Then we opened the museum, to show the world that there were good witches out there, that we were trying to protect them. I started hunting down the people who were murdering the witches. I tried to stop them, I tried to reason with them, but they wouldn't listen. So I had them arrested as well."

"How? How did you have that kind of influence?" Chris whispered, horrified at everything his brother had been forced to deal with.

"Magic," Wyatt said simply. What he didn't say was that his version of arresting someone was to force them into his own dungeons in the Underworld. What he didn't say was that he kidnapped dissident witches as well. What he didn't say was that he fought against anyone, good or evil, that spoke out against his regime.

Chris didn't need to know all that.

"That's why I had those flashes of people saying you were evil," Chris murmured. "Because they hated all witches."

"Exactly," Wyatt agreed emphatically.

"I think I remember Melinda," Chris said, resting his chin on his palm and staring at Wyatt. "She and I were attacked by demons. But we escaped and went back to a place called the Resistance." He tilted his head slightly to one side, silently questioning Wyatt.

The Twice Blessed sighed. "There were times when Melinda was like our own sister. After everyone died… it was just us and her and Henry, against the rest of the world." His voice took on an odd quality to it, an infinite sadness and despair at how much was lost. "But then a group of people formed. They were mostly magical, but some mortals. They wanted me to stop what I was doing, to keep the two worlds separate. They said it wasn't our job to save the mortal world, only the magical one. I disagreed with them, and they formed the Resistance, and organization against me. You, Melinda, and Henry joined them."

"Why?"

Wyatt considered the question before answering carefully. "Melinda was always so angry after everyone died. And then… when the mortals turned against us, she just didn't understand why we would still want to protect them from the demons. And Henry… well, he did anything Melinda did. He adored her."

"And why did I join?" Chris pressed. He couldn't believe he would just turn his back on his brother, but from everything Bianca had told him and everything Wyatt was saying now, he was starting to understand that his relationship with his brother was anything but simple.

"You wanted to save our family. You thought the only way to make sure that the four of us stayed alive was to distance ourselves from all danger. Basically, to hide. I couldn't do that, it wasn't what Dad had instructed me to do. I had to save the world. Eventually, you came back to my side."

"And this difference of opinion… this is why we don't see Melinda and Henry anymore?" Chris asked as all the pieces started to fall into place. Wyatt gave a short nod and didn't elaborate on the subject, but this was obviously a topic of conversation that did not sit well with him. So Chris changed the subject and asked, "And Bianca? I… the few memories I have of her, she's either being hired by you to find me or returning to you because she's afraid you will kill her family." He couldn't quite keep the accusation out of his tone.

Wyatt, however, laughed outright at Chris' words. "Bianca and I never did have the best relationship," he admitted. "I didn't think she was good enough for my baby brother."

"I take it I disagreed with you on that," Chris commented dryly.

Wyatt grinned. "Yes, you did. Anyway, as you frequently pointed out to me, I only had myself to blame for your meeting with her. After you, Melinda, and Henry joined the Resistance, I tried so hard to find you. But I couldn't locate your base. So I contracted with the Phoenixes to do it instead. Bianca's the one that found you, and that was how you two met." He seemed a little sheepish, but he was still grinning widely at the story.

"Well, I'm glad we did," Chris said, daring Wyatt to contradict him.

"Me, too," Wyatt conceded. "As much as I hate to admit it, she has grown on me. And it is obvious that she loves you."

"So why did you threaten to kill her family?" Chris asked, still not forgetting the vision he had seen.

Wyatt flushed a dark crimson and stared down at the table top. "I… well, I lost control, basically. I was trying so hard to keep things together, keep everyone safe, and one day I just… snapped. She had fallen in love with you and joined you at the Resistance, and I was just so angry. I told her… if she didn't come back I would…" He stopped uncertainly, not wanting to finish the sentence. "In my temper, I've done a lot of things I regretted. You followed her back to me and argued with me and… I guess you were able to make me calm down enough to see what I was doing, how it was wrong. That was when you realized that you needed to be here with me; we need each other. Dad might have given me that task of watching over the world, but we were both supposed to do it. Together."

"Bianca says I'm easily corrupted by power," Chris argued. "How can I help you if I am a danger to myself and everyone else?"

"We're both easily corrupted, Chris, but when we are together, we can keep each other in check," Wyatt answered softly. Chris swallowed nervously, then nodded, and picked up his hamburger again.

Wyatt watched his brother eating. He hadn't really told lies in his story. Leo had been killed in an attach on the heavens, and all the Halliwells had been murdered by demons. Melinda and Henry had joined the Resistance, as had Chris and Bianca. But his brother and the assassin had never returned to his side, not until now. And he played a much larger, much harsher, role in controlling this world.

Still… he had his brother back now. The lies didn't matter, so long as he had Chris by his side.

Chris silently mused over everything Wyatt had told him. It all made sense, filling in the gaps in his memory, building a picture of a lifetime of hardships and regrets. But the sharp and jarring alignment of these pieces did not ease the irrational fears that tugged at his stomach, whispering cryptic warnings to him.

If his entire family was murdered after he had already turned at least ten or eleven, why did he go back in time to a point when he wasn't even born? Why not go back to the day of the attack and stop it? He shook his head, but the doubts remained, lingering under the surface.

* * *

_Manor attic, present day_

_Piper, Phoebe, and Paige stood in front of the wall of the attic where the chalk triqueta still stood out against the wood. It had been decided that the Elders would open a portal to the future, and the Charmed Ones would go through it. Leo would stay behind with Wyatt and spend time investigating Orexio and possible ways to vanquish the demon._

_"I don't like this," Piper said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. Leo had already taken Wyatt and orbed Up There, leaving the three sisters alone._

_"Piper…"_

_"I know," Piper said sharply, her tone harder than she had intended. Both her sisters flinched, but she ignored their hurt expressions. She couldn't explain the fear in her stomach of the anger she harbored towards Chris. All she could think was that she did not want to walk through this portal. She did not want to face the future._

_"We have potions," Paige said, touching the bag filled with vials she was carrying over her shoulder. "Phoebe has an athame and you have a spell we can say that will take us back to this time in the past. Everything is going to be okay."_

_"Famous last words," Piper muttered._

_The triqueta suddenly glowed blue, the portal opened, and the three witches walked into the future._

* * *

_San Francisco, 2025_

When the strange sensation of rushing through time and space finally stopped, Piper was the first to notice that things were different. They were standing in the attic, only it didn't look like the attic. The Book was missing, and in its place was a hologram. Several of the tables were roped off and labeled with signs, like museum exhibits.

"Where are we?" Piper breathed, confused. "Why is everything so…?"

She didn't get a chance to finish the sentence, however, because several demons shimmered into the room. Two of them jumped forward and seized Piper by her arms before she had a chance to react. Paige reacted instantly by tossing a potion bottle at one of the demons, vanquishing him. Piper wrested her arms free from the other demon and blew him up. She turned, hands poised to attack anything that moved, and stared at the three remaining demons.

"Who do you think you are, witch?" another demon snarled. "Coming in here and using magic? Did you think you would really get away with it?"

"How dare you threaten me in my own home?" Piper spat, glaring furiously at the demon.

The air shimmered again, and several more demons appeared, outnumbering the Charmed Ones. Paige grabbed Phoebe and Piper's arms and orbed the three of them out of the attic just as a series of energy balls flew through the air where they had been standing moments before.

They reappeared on the sidewalk outside the Manor. It was night, and the sky was dark and spotted with a few faint stars that shone through the heavy clouds. Paige glanced up at the attic window of the Manor, but the demons didn't appear to be following them, so she let out a sigh of relief.

But Phoebe had caught sight of the sign outside the Manor and was staring at it in horror.

"Halliwell Manor Museum?" she read uncomprehendingly. Both Piper and Paige turned to look at the sign, but before any of them could comment on the strangeness of this new world, a whirling sound filled the air, drawing their attention away from the building in front of them.

The machine appeared like a giant metallic bug. It was hovering midair, a video-recorder-type screen protruding slightly from a rectangular box. The screen began to glow, and suddenly a force-field shot form it, scanning Phoebe's face.

Piper blew up the flying probe.

"What is this place?" Phoebe asked, shaken from the strange experience.

"I don't know, but we need to get some place safe," Piper answered. She looked around the street. It didn't appear that different from what she had remembered, but something felt different, more dangerous. "Paige, can you orb us to Daryl? Maybe he can explain what is going on?"

"Wait, where are the future versions of us?" Paige demanded.

"I don't know," Phoebe whispered, "but I agree with Piper." She lifted wide eyes to Paige. "I can't explain it, I just have this feeling… we need to get out of here."

Paige took her sisters' hands and orbed away.

They reappeared in another neighborhood, only it wasn't anything like what they remembered. There was destruction everywhere, partially ruined homes lined up against the street. Where Daryl's house used to stand was a burnt-out shell, a skeleton of a home. The grass was singed in places and dead in others, and even the trees had a drooping quality to them.

"Oh, God…" Phoebe muttered.

"Hey, get out!" a voice cried suddenly, and the sound of rocks hitting the ground quickly followed. Paige spun around to find herself staring at a young boy, perhaps eleven or twelve, who was holding a handful of stones and glaring at the sisters. "You heard me, lady!" the boy said in the same desperate tone. "This is my place to camp, not none of yours. Scram!"

"We're not going to hurt you," Paige said gently, taking a hesitant step towards the boy. The boy backed away warily, holding the stones even more tightly. "I promise," Paige added, "no one is going to take away this… uh, camping place… from you."

"No, you're not," the boy agreed furiously. "Now leave!"

"Hey, kid, we just want to ask you a question, okay?" Piper said in a low voice. She too crept towards the boy, and as she got closer she could see how thin he was, how his messy hair was grimy and covered with dust. He looked as though he had not had a good meal or a shower in weeks.

"You with the Hunters?" the boy asked suddenly, throwing a handful of rocks at Piper. "Stay away from me! I ain't no demon!"

Piper and Phoebe exchanged a glance, and Phoebe murmured to her sister, "He's terrified. He thinks we want to hurt him."

"No one is going to hurt you," Piper said again. "And we aren't with the Hunters," she added, not knowing what they were. Still, the way the boy was so terrified of this group, it was obvious the Hunters were nothing good.

"Then why do you've got questions, huh?" the boy hissed.

"Can you tell us what happened around here, sweetie?" Piper asked in her best mother-voice. "Why is everything so destroyed?"

"What are you, mental?" a new voice asked, and a girl stepped out of the shadows of a nearby half-destroyed house. "Jake, go back," she said to the boy, who instantly scurried away. The girl turned back to Piper and said, "You shouldn't ask questions!"

"Who are you?" Phoebe questioned, eyeing the girl. She looked to be about sixteen, with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her tan skin was covered with sweat and dirt that did not quite hide the bruises and scars on her arms and throat. She had clearly seen many battles, and had barely survived some of them.

But her eyes were hard and cold as she answered, "Who are you?"

"We're visiting," Phoebe replied. "And we just want to know what happened here." She gestured to the surrounding area. Destruction stretched out as far as the eye could see, burnt homes dotted with overgrown weeds and upturned garbage cans.

"His Lordship destroyed it," the girl snapped. "What the hell do you think happened to it?" Then she paused, considering something thoughtfully, and remarked, "Although the Hunters probably had a hand in it as well."

"His Lordship?" Phoebe whispered to Paige with a significant look.

"Who are the Hunters?"

The girl looked at Piper like she was insane. "Okay, who the hell are you? And stop faking innocence, you're not fooling anyone. You know perfectly well what is going on."

"We really don't," Piper argued.

The girl hesitated, trying to determine if Piper was telling the truth. Then she sighed and said, "Then you've been living under a rock for the past several years, because everyone in the world knows this. But if you really want to play dumb…" She frowned and her voice became even harder, even colder. "The witch hunters had a field day with this neighborhood because of some inspector… Daryl Morris, I think. Then his Lordship came in and destroyed anyone loyal to the Resistance. We use it as a squatting ground now, and that ain't illegal, so back off."

"Witch hunters?"

"Who is his Lordship?"

"What happened to Daryl?"

The questions came so quickly that the girl appeared stunned, as though realizing that these three women really didn't know what had happened to this neighborhood. "Hunters, we call 'em. They kill witches. Demons, too, if they can, but most demons just fight back and kill the Hunters. His Lordship also kills them, or worse."

"Who is his Lordship?"

At that, however, the girl instantly clamped her mouth shut, looking scared. "I'm not saying nothing. He's got ears everywhere." She looked around, as though expecting to be attacked. Before the sisters could get another word out of her, she turned and fled back into the shadows, her footsteps echoing on the cement as she disappeared.

"I don't understand," Piper said after a moment of hesitation. "How could we let this happen? Why didn't we stop any of it? Why didn't the Elders stop it?"

"I don't know," Phoebe replied grimly, "but we still need to find someplace safe."

"There doesn't appear to be much safe in this world," Piper muttered under her breath.

"What about Leo?" Phoebe suggested suddenly. "We didn't think to call for him. Maybe his future self can explain what is happening."

"We still need to find Chris," Paige pointed out. "The portal was supposed to take us to him."

"Well, he has to be somewhere around here," Piper answered. "I say we get to safety, get some answers, and then come up with a plan." Without waiting for a response from either of her sisters, she yelled towards the sky, "Leo! Leo, get down here!"

There was no answer.

"Leo! Your ex-wife needs you!" Piper continued to call, her voice raising in volume.

A glittering of white and blue orbs formed into the shape of a very irate looking young man. "Damn it, lady, are you trying to get yourself killed? Why the hell are you calling for Leo anyway, you know he's…" The man stopped, however, when he caught sight of Piper. His own expression went completely blank and the color drained from his face. "Piper?" he whispered hoarsely.

"Do I know you?" Piper asked curiously.

"Uh…" The man seemed at a loss for words. He glanced from one sister to the next, then asked in a softer tone, "You're not from this year."

"No," Piper answered cautiously. "We're from the past. How did you know?"

The man didn't answer right away. Finally, he extended his hand and said, "In that case, I'm Greg. Nice to meet you."

Piper shook his hand, but refused to let the subject drop. "So how do we know each other, and where is Leo?"

Greg shifted from one foot to another. "I'm not really sure I should answer that," he said slowly. "I don't know how you got here, but we really need to send you back before too much damage is done."

"I'd like some answers, first, before you send me anywhere," Piper ordered tersely.

"Besides," Paige cut in, "we still need to find Chris."

That caught Greg's attention. "Chris?" he asked, confused, turning sharp eyes to Paige.

"Yeah, the annoying, manipulative, lying, neurotic witch-lighter from the future who apparently thinks it is his job to ruin my life," Piper snapped irritably.

Shutters dropped down over Greg's face. He looked away. "Chris is here?" he asked in a tone that was clearly barely in control. His anger at Piper's words caught the witch by surprise, and she nodded dumbly. Greg shook his head, worry replacing the annoyance in his eyes.

"You know Chris?" Phoebe asked. She was getting a strange feeling from him right now, a mixture of love, anger, hurt, and fear. The fear was because of Chris, but the other emotions all seemed to be directed at Piper. Obviously, Greg knew Piper quite well, and they had some unfinished business he had never resolved.

Before anyone had a chance to ask any more questions, however, the air was filled with demons. They were similar to those who had attached at the Manor, and each of them was holding an energy ball in one hand, glaring menacingly at the four adults standing on the sidewalk.

Piper vanquished a few, but they were closing in on their prey, and for each one she killed, several more took its place. Greg latched onto her arm, orbing himself and her away, and calling to Paige as he disappeared, "Follow me!"

Paige reached for Phoebe, but before she could link hands with the empath, a demon grabbed her and threw her roughly to the ground. She heard Phoebe cry her name as an energy ball sailed past her head, hitting the ground inches next to her head. She squirmed, trying to pull away, but another demon yanked her to her feet and held her arms tightly, preventing her from escaping from him.

And then another figure appeared in the middle of the demon. A man, tall and dark, wearing a long cloak that hid his face from view. He easily vanquished several of the demons with well placed energy balls, at the same time freeing Paige by stabbing her captor with an athame. Phoebe had also dispatched her fair share of demons, and fought her way closer to Paige. But more of these attackers kept coming, shimmering into the street every second.

The strange man placed one hand on Paige's shoulder and the other Phoebe's wrist and shimmered the three of them away.

They reappeared on the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. Greg was standing there with Piper, and the eldest Charmed One was staring silently at the city that stretched below their feet.

It was worse than they had ever imagined. Some neighborhoods were completely decimated, others were overgrown. Only a very few sections of the city appeared to be livable, and Prescott Street was one of those places. But everything else was just a mass of twisting, ruined streets, strewn with fires and broken homes.

"Oh…" was all Piper could manage.

"The demons found us," Greg said to the mysterious man who had saved Phoebe and Paige. "I don't know how exactly, because I don't have the full story yet. But Piper said she came her to find Chris, so they have to be from around that time…" He glanced over at Piper, an indescribably sad look on his face, then added, "She didn't know who I was."

"If they came through a portal into the Manor," the stranger said in an eerily familiar voice, "then His demons would have sensed their magic. They probably just followed them, assuming they were a threat."

"You don't think He sent them?" Greg asked.

"To kill the Charmed Ones from the past?" The man shook his head. "No, I don't. He's not that stupid." And then he pushed back his head, revealing his features, and the three sisters gasped in unison.

Cole Turner, wearing the exact same arrogant smirk, was standing before them, his eyes glittering with frustration and annoyance.


	8. The Kindness of Strangers

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: So a lot of the rest of the story is going to take place in the future. We won't see Leo, baby Wyatt, or the present again for a while, so I'm not writing with italics anymore. Also, just to clear this up for anyone who might be wondering, Chris is not Greg's son. He is still Leo's son, and this is still ultimately a Piper/Leo story.

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Eight: The Kindness of Strangers

_Golden Gate Bridge, 2025_

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me!" Piper raged, throwing up her hands in exasperation. Everyone around her ducked instinctively, expecting to be blown up, but she ignored this. "How many times are we going to have to vanquish you?"

"So I'm guessing they are from before the time when you guys are friends again?" Greg quipped, giving Cole a small smile. If the entire situation wasn't so dire, he would have actually found this funny.

"Friends? Friends?" Phoebe whispered, her eyes wide with shock at the sudden appearance of her ex-husband. "This cannot be happening!"

Cole gave Phoebe one long stare, then turned to Greg and said, "You need to take them back to the Resistance. I'll try to find Chris."

"Bianca brought him here," Paige offered helpfully. "And Phoebe had a premonition of some blonde guy trying to kill him." She hesitated, then asked, "Hey, is the Big Bad you guys are so worried about blonde?"

Greg and Cole exchanged a look that spoke volumes. Then Greg asked warily, "Why is Paige okay with you being here? She's the one who hated you the most. Shouldn't she have tried to vanquish you already?"

"Oh, I still plan on doing that," Paige answered bluntly, her gaze moving quickly to Phoebe, who looked as though she was about to start hyperventilating. "After we rescue Chris, restore his memories, and then kick some sense into his lying little…"

"Huh," Cole interrupted before Paige could finish the sentence. He looked at Greg again, and an unspoken understanding passed between them. The Halliwell sisters did not know that Wyatt was evil and they clearly didn't know that Chris was Piper's son.

"Wait, what do you mean? Why do you have to restore his memories?" Greg demanded, worried.

"He lost them," Piper answered. "He doesn't even know who he is." She rolled her eyes and stared back out at the destroyed city.

"He's not the only one," Cole said under his breath.

Phoebe was still staring silently at Cole. She wasn't following the rest of the conversation, just letting the words wash over her as her brain tried to comprehend the half-demon before her. Why was he back in her life? Every time she thought she was fully rid of him, he came back and broke her heart again.

But Cole's words started her out of her reverie. She gave him a searching look, wondering what he meant by that comment. Before she could ask, however, Piper was already speaking.

"Alright, I left Wyatt and Leo alone in the past, so can we just find Chris and get this over with? I'd like to get back to my son."

Cole shook his head sadly. If only she knew that the person she was so eager to find and then dismiss as a nuisance was her son also.

"Easier said than done," Greg muttered. A sense of weariness and hopelessness permeated the air as both he and Cole realized the full extent of the danger Chris was currently facing. Without him, the Resistance was lost. If he joined forces with Wyatt, the entire world was doomed.

Suddenly Greg froze and stared at something behind Piper and Paige. Everyone followed his gaze, and saw another giant mechanical device coming towards them. It hovered in the air above Paige, sending out a beam to scan her face. Cole threw an energy ball at it, and the machine burst into sparks and twisted pieces of metal and plummeted to the ground far below.

"Are you okay?" Greg asked Paige, reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder. She flinched at the touch, but then nodded slowly.

"It didn't have time to transmit," Cole said to Greg, his gaze fixed on Paige. "But we still need to get out of here before more come looking for us."

"What was that?" Piper demanded.

"A probe," Cole answered quickly. "They're used to scan for magical creatures. So that He can keep an eye on all of us."

"One of them tried to scan us when we first arrived in this time at the Manor," Phoebe murmured. "Piper blew it up."

Cole sized her arm and hissed, "Did it transmit?" He had been trying his best to appear coolly polite, to keep his distance from her and giver her space while she worked through the surprise and shock of seeing him again. But her words made him panic, and he forgot what she was doing.

"Cole!" Piper threatened, taking a step towards him.

Cole jerked back, letting go of Phoebe as though he had been burned. "Did it transmit?" he asked again, taking a few steps away from her.

"I… I don't know," Phoebe stuttered.

"If it had transmitted, He would have been there in a heartbeat," Greg pointed out calmly. "He wouldn't have left his demons to deal with the Charmed Ones."

Cole nodded slowly, accepting Greg's reassurance. "No, you're right," he agreed. Then the worried expression returned and he added, "But He'll figure out who it was soon enough. We need to get someplace safe."

"Go to the Underworld. Find out anything you can about Chris," Greg instructed. "I'll take the sisters to the Resistance." Cole shimmered away, and Greg turned to the three witches. "Here," he said, "take my hands. I'll get you out of here."

Still not entirely sure they could trust this mysterious white-lighter, but recognizing that they didn't really have much of a choice, the sisters linked hands with Greg and they all disappeared in a flurry of white lights.

* * *

_Wyatt's apartment, 2025_

Bianca paced impatiently outside the door to Chris' bedroom. She could hear him moving around inside the room, so she knew he was awake. She needed to talk to him, to convince herself that he was alright. She'd spoken to Wyatt briefly while Chris was showering and changing into cleaner clothes, and the Twice Blessed had informed her of everything he had told Chris. She knew what lies to tell and what truths her fiancé already knew and what act to perform.

But she just wanted to see him.

Finally, the door opened and Chris stepped out into the hallway. His hair was combed neatly and he was wearing a freshly washed green shirt and jeans. He smiled tentatively when he saw her.

"Hey."

"Hey, yourself," Bianca replied. "You look… cleaner."

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "Well, it was nice to eat something and take a shower. I don't think I've been taking particularly good care of myself."

"You probably just ran yourself ragged trying to vanquish demons every three seconds," Bianca agreed, taking a few steps towards him. "You used to do that a lot." When Chris didn't back away from her, she slipped her arm through his. "We worried you would get yourself killed."

Chris stared at her hypnotic eyes, feeling as though he was falling into them. "Hm… don't know why I would want to spend so much time away from my family," he said.

"Me, neither," Bianca agreed, leaning towards him. When their faces were just close enough for their lips to be brushing, the sound of footsteps on the stairs caused them to jump apart with a start.

Wyatt was standing there.

"Nice timing," Chris grumbled sarcastically.

"Just looking out for my little brother," Wyatt replied cheerily, gently hitting Chris on the shoulder. "You know I've got your best interests at heart."

"_Wyatt, stop it!" Chris begged, running forward and grabbing Wyatt's arm, trying to pull him away from the demon he was attempting to vanquish. "Just come home with me."_

_The demon broke through Wyatt's telekinetic grip and conjured a fireball, glaring at Chris. Before he had a chance to throw it, however, Wyatt waved a hand carelessly at him, and the demon screamed and erupted into flames._

"_Chris, what are you doing?" Wyatt demanded angrily. "I was interrogating that demon!"_

"_We need you at home!" Chris begged. "I need you." His eyes swimming with tears, he asked hoarsely, "Doesn't that matter to you?"_

"_Of course," Wyatt answered quickly, his anger fading at Chris' evident distress. "You know I've got your best interests at heart."_

"Chris?" Bianca asked, shaking him lightly. "You okay?"

"Yeah… I, uh…" Chris frowned at Wyatt, considering the man in front of him. "I just had a flash," he explained wryly. "We were arguing because you were tracking demons and I wanted you to come home."

Wyatt forced a smile, but inwardly winced at Chris' words. He wasn't sure what they would do when Chris started remembering other aspects of his life. Would he remember his foolish views of Good and Evil? Would he walk away again?

"Sounds like almost every argument you've ever had," Bianca quipped, breaking the tension in the air. "Except, of course, for those that revolve around how Wyatt thinks I'm not good enough for you," she added softly. Linking her arm through Chris' again, she pulled him gently towards him and suggested, "Maybe you should get some sleep? It's been a long day."

"Yeah…" Chris agreed. He gave her a faint smile, but a feeling of exhaustion suddenly washed through him and he wavered slightly on his feet. He reached out to steady himself on the wall. "I just feel like I have so much in my head right now… it's a lot to take in."

"Come on, baby." Bianca tugged lightly on his arm, pulling Chris back towards his bedroom.

"He needs _sleep_, Bianca," Wyatt pointed out warningly, and she looked at him with a grin. The expression fell when she saw the dangerous light in his eyes, and she glared viciously. Was her entire life going to be dictated by Wyatt's whims? At least when they were on the run from him they had some semblance of freedom. But, she reminded herself, this was the only way to keep Chris alive, and that was what mattered, more than anything else.

"I don't know," Chris said playfully. "I don't really feel like_sleeping_ right now."

Bianca laughed at the furious expression on Wyatt's face, but when Chris turned to look at his older brother the expression was quickly replaced by teasing concern.

"Well, I can think of a few other things we could do," Bianca said suggestively, "but I do really think you need sleep. And I have a couple things I need to do." She kissed him gently on the cheek, and whispered, "Later, baby," before shimmering away.

Chris frowned at the spot where Bianca had stood only moments before. Something about the entire conversation was bothering him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Wyatt was watching him carefully, a mixture of worry and calculation in his eyes.

On a whim, Chris asked, "What aren't you telling me, Wyatt?"

Wyatt didn't answer right away. He took a slow breath and expelled it, letting the silence fall between the two of them. "There are a lot of things I haven't told you, Chris," he said finally. "Things that you're simply going to need to relearn for yourself. You won't remember everything if I help provide all the answers."

"That certainly wasn't an answer to my question," Chris retorted, but he didn't press the issue past that. He could tell that Wyatt was uncomfortable talking about this, and he could only imagine the horrors in their past that haunted his brother. He wondered how long it would be until he started remembering them also.

Once Chris had retreated to his room, Wyatt through the apartment to the kitchen again. He sat down on one of the chairs by the table and listened to the wind rattling against the windows. He had to tread carefully around Chris, and Bianca would be more of a problem than he had anticipated. This was going to be difficult, but the end result-Chris on his side-would be worth it.

The air shimmered behind him and a demon appeared in the room. Wyatt rose and turned, his cold expression firmly in place. "Yes?" he asked.

"There was some activity at the Manor. Three witches were there. They were powerful, and one of them orbed," the demon reported. The underlying meaning of his words was clear, and Wyatt didn't even have to investigate himself to know what had happened.

"So Mom and the Aunts have followed Chris here, have they?" he mused. This was going to complicate things ever more. Bianca had told him that his family was unaware of his so-called 'evilness' and that no one knew who Chris was. His family would be wandering around this future, confused and lost, and could easily be hurt. He needed to find them and send them back in time so that his own history didn't get screwed up by their trip to the future.

"It would appear so, my Lord," the demon agreed, waiting patiently for instructions.

"I want them found," Wyatt ordered, "but not hurt. Kill anyone who tries to get in your way, but bring my family to me. Alive."

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

"What is this place?" Piper asked, staring around the building. They had orbed into what appeared to be an underground mall. The corridor they were in stretched out in both directions. Open rooms branched off each side of the hallway, and a few other, smaller hallways were interspaced between the rooms. People were moving around them, apparently not particularly surprised by the sudden appearance of Greg and three strangers.

"Sanctuary," Greg replied. "It is our main base for the Resistance. We have several smaller safe houses throughout the city as well."

"What did it used to be?" Phoebe questioned. Her initial shock at being in the future and seeing Cole was gone now, replaced by curiosity. As long as she didn't run into any more unwelcome guests, she could probably survive this trip.

"A shopping complex," Greg replied. "There was an earthquake a few years back, around the same time that He rose to power. The earthquake caused the shopping mall to collapse into the ground. We needed a safe place to hide, so we used magic to secure the place, make sure it wouldn't collapse on us, and block evil from getting in." He looked around for a moment, nodding at a few of the people who walked by. "We also used cloaking spells, fairy dust… it was hard to keep Him out. The usual rules of magic don't really apply to Him."

"Who is this Him?" Piper asked. "The kids on that street mentioned His Lordship."

"Yeah," Greg said. He didn't answer the question, didn't even look at Piper. His gaze was fixed on someone else, a man standing across the corridor. The man walked forward, his footsteps loud and angry, and Greg unconsciously straightened.

"What are you doing here, white-lighter?" the man demanded angrily.

"Last time I checked, Max, you didn't have sole authority here," Greg replied coolly. "I don't answer to you," his eyes narrowed, "or your girlfriend."

Max shook his head, black eyes filled with loathing. "Careful, or the Council might think that you've overstayed your welcome here."

The three Charmed Ones studied this strange man. Their eyes were drawn first to the scar on his face, the long thin line that wove across his otherwise smooth skin. His eyes were icy and lacked any feeling of warmth. He looked as though he had seen too many tragedies in his life.

"I have bigger things to worry about than the Council," Greg answered. He jerked his head at the sisters, and Max's eyes widened. "Tell your girlfriend to stay off my back. I'll be out of her hair soon enough." Gesturing to the Charmed Ones to follow him, he spun around and stalked away.

Piper struggled to keep up, forced to take fast strides to match Greg's long legs. "Who was that?"

"Max," Greg replied. "There's some internal politics here. It's nothing to worry about." He knew eventually he would have to tell Melinda that her family was here, but he also knew she wouldn't actually want to see any of them, so he was less than concerned about it.

"Where are we?" Paige questioned, catching up with Greg. "Leo? Our family?"

Greg stopped. He turned to look at Paige and said seriously, "I don't know. Your family… probably out and about trying to save the world. But I wouldn't worry about it too much, and I wouldn't ask questions. I can't answer that many of them anyway. Future consequences."

"Oh, spare me that," Paige snarled.

"We want more than some stupid phrase like that," Phoebe protested.

"I am so sick of hearing Chris say that," Piper added. "He's screwing up our lives, and he won't tell us why!"

Greg gestured to the people moving around him. "Does this answer your question, Piper? We're hiding in a underground mall to avoid demons and witch hunters while the entire world goes to hell. Chris was trying to prevent that. Isn't that a good enough reason to screw up your lives?"

"He can't just go about playing with people's lives," Piper snapped back, surprised and angry by Greg's words.

"The world is going to hell!" Greg spat.

"This is my family," Piper replied coldly.

Greg froze. "Seriously?" he whispered, dismayed and disgusted by her words. "Are you still stuck in the whole 'there is nothing bigger than my family' stage?" He rolled his eyes at her and crossed his arms over his chest. "Get over yourself, Piper. There's a much bigger picture out there. It's called the world." Piper looked away, but Greg caught her tightly by the arm, spinning her around and forcing her to look at him. "This might be a hypothetical future for you, but this is my life. Our lives. And anything you know about it might change things in ways we don't want. You could erase someone. You could erase one of your own children just because your arrogance makes you think you have a right to satisfy your curiosity."

Without another word, he stalked past them all, fuming with anger. When he knew Piper, she was different. She'd already lost her husband, and her oldest son was well on the way towards something dark and dangerous. She was struggling to take care of her family and the world, and she was so much stronger, so much more mature. Instead of being reunited with the brave and courageous woman he had loved, he was facing an arrogant, immature version of her and her sisters.

Brats.

Behind him, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige exchanged looks. Piper felt the guilt welling up in her. Had they really been that hard on Chris in the past, refusing to help him when his world had fallen apart and he was only trying to save them all?

They hurried after Greg.

* * *

_Resistance Library, 2025_

They settled around the tables, quiet and tense. The library was a large room divided into several sections by stacks of books. Greg had already pulled several books off the shelves and was flipping through them.

"We have a spell to take us back to the past," Piper said hesitantly.

"But you probably need to be over the Nexus to access that kind of power, and we can't go back to the Manor," Greg replied tightly. He was forcing himself to be calm and civil, knowing that if he lost his temper again, he might accidentally say something he would regret later.

"Anyway," Paige added softly, "We can't go back without Chris."

"That's going to be difficult," Greg replied. "Chris is probably with Him, and getting him out of there is going to be next to impossible."

"Especially if Bianca is on His side," a voice added, all the four of them looked up. The woman who had spoken was tall and statuesque, her old face lined with deep wrinkles, her hair peppered-gray. She pulled out a chair next to Greg and sat down without being invited, saying matter-of-factly, "Max just reported to the Council. So Bianca has really joined Him?"

"Did she have much of a choice, Sara?" Greg replied pointedly, rolling his eyes. He was one of the few who had disagreed with Melinda's decision to revoke the Phoenix's rights to Sanctuary. She had been backed by the entire council, except for Daryl, and very few stopped to wonder if it had been the right decision. The times were too fragile, too unpredictable, to wonder about what could have been.

Sara pursed her lips. "She was supposed to be in love with Chris."

"She is," Greg answered quietly. "Which might be the only reason Chris is still alive."

"Who are you?" Paige asked finally, when it became clear that Greg was not going to make any introductions.

"Sara," the woman replied, as though her name alone should have explained who she was.

"Yes, I did catch that from the conversation," Paige remarked sarcastically.

"I'm just one of the many witches who had to flee the world because of…"

"Sara," Greg cut her off warningly. "This isn't the time or place for past recriminations." It was blatantly obvious that they would not be able to keep Wyatt's true nature a secret for long, but he wanted time to think of the best way to approach the sisters with this revelation. He knew they would try to deny it or explain it away, so he had to provide irrefutable proof. But he also had to be sensitive to Piper's feelings on the matter, because Wyatt was her son.

Sara huffed, rose, and walked away.

"Why do I get the feeling we aren't very well liked here?" Phoebe asked, watching Sara leave. She'd picked up on a lot of negative energy from both Sara and Max, and although Greg had claimed that it was just politics, she knew that it was something else as well.

Greg didn't answer. He was already reading again, his eyes traveling quickly over the book he was reading. "There are some ways to send you back, but they still all require that the spells or potions be centered over a magical energy source. I don't know if it is possible without the Nexus. I can't think of anything strong enough besides that."

"What about some other magical place? Like Valhalla?" Paige replied.

Greg raised an eyebrow at her suggestion, but shook his head. "The Valkeries abandoned Valhalla after He rose to power. It's under His control now. Must of the magical places are."

"And this person who you won't name… he's powerful enough to stop the Charmed Ones?" Phoebe asked. She didn't understand how that was possible given that they had been able to stop the Source. But the world all around them was destroyed, so obviously they had not won this particular battle.

"He's stronger than all the previous evils you've faced," Greg answered. "You weren't able to stop him before…" He trailed off uncomfortably. "Sorry, I just don't like talking about it. It is… unpleasant. The memories… we've lost a lot of people… friends and family."

"I'm sorry," Piper said with feeling, placing a hand on his arm. For a moment, she looked so like the Piper he remembered, that Greg could almost believe she had come back to life. But the moment passed, and he looked away, and Piper glanced over at her sisters.

"How are we going to get to Chris?" Phoebe questioned.

"Cole is looking into possibilities," Greg answered, and as Phoebe opened her mouth to say something, he continued, "And before you tell me that you don't trust him, I should warn you that I do trust him. I trust that he would do anything possible to save Chris."

"Why?" Piper asked. "Why does he care so much?"

Greg shrugged. "All of us care about Chris. He's kept this Resistance together, kept it running. When he went back to the past, that's when all the problems started. We've fallen apart since then…" He shrugged and repeated, "We all care about Chris."

"He seemed so…"

"Annoying? Neurotic? Frustrating?" Greg suggested when Piper didn't finish the sentence. "He probably did. Honestly, I'm not all that surprised that you three found him hard to work with. He tends to go all out on his missions, and he never takes a break. But whatever it is he's demanding of you, trust me, he's demanding so much more from himself."

No one answered.

Greg glanced around the library again. "Once Max has had a chance to talk to the Council, we're going to need to talk to them as well. But for now, I suggest you guys stay under the radar. I don't know how your presence is going to be taken."

* * *

_Underworld, 2025_

Cole held the demon out with one hand, dangling him dangerously over the pit of fire below. "So," he said, his voice glacial, his eyes burning with fire, "are you sure you don't want to talk?"

"If I say anything, Lord Wyatt will kill me," the demon squealed, still struggling to escape Cole's grasp. He wasn't strong enough to fight the fearless half-demon, however, and Cole simply shook him once for good measure as his patience wore thin.

"If you don't talk, I'll kill you. And I can make it painful and slow," Cole growled.

"Okay, okay," the demon conceded finally with a quick look at the burning lava below. "The rumor is that Christopher is with his brother now. Bianca brought him back, and he's agreed to join Lord Wyatt's army. But the only ones who've seen him are Wyatt and Bianca and the few demons that were there when they first arrived."

Cole considered this information thoughtfully before hauling the demon away from the pit and throwing him across the cave so that he hit the far wall and crumpled to the ground in a sprawling heap. The demon slowly clambered to its feet and teleported away, but Cole was too lost in his own thoughts to truly register the disappearance.

If Bianca was the only one close enough to Chris to get him out of there, than somehow they would need to convince her to help them. It wouldn't be too difficult to find her, he knew she hated being cooped up and would be out and about a lot during the next few days. But before he tracked her down, he would need to figure out just how they would prevent Wyatt from following Chris back through the portal.

The first thing to do would be to destroy the time travel spell in the Book of Shadows. That would delay Wyatt for a little while, but not indefinitely. The other possibility was to place a time ban around this time. The Elders or the Source were the ones strong enough to do that, and he wouldn't be getting any help from Wyatt. There were only a few Elders left here, but there would plenty in the past who might be able to complete the ban in one of the Charmed Ones could convince them to help.

Unfortunately, a time ban would mean that once Chris left, he would never be able to return to this future. Somehow, he didn't think Bianca would agree to that plan. The whole point of Chris' mission was that eventually he would return to enjoy the world that he saved.

Would it be possible, he mused, to make a ban that only went one way? Leave Chris the option of returning to this future, but prevent anyone from ever going back to him? He didn't know enough about time travel to have any idea if that was a feasible option, and he doubted anyone in the Resistance would even know how to perform such magic. The intricacies of time travel were complicated, and pulling at the magic of time too much could cause the entire world to spin out of balance.

He might not know anything about this, but someone who had been around for a few millennia probably did. With that thought in mind, he went in search of Lavinia.

* * *

_Resistance Council Chambers, 2025 _

They filed slowly into the large room, eyes taking in every tiny detail. A large circular table was set in the middle of the room, and it was filled with several people. There were also rows of chairs lined up against the walls, and about half of them were occupied. The room was lit by a large floating chandelier at the very center of the ceiling, and along one wall a window opened up on a view of a waterfall cascading into a clear pool in the center of a partially woody lush grass field.

"What is that?" Phoebe whispered, nodding to the view from the window.

"A gift from the nymphs and the fairies," Greg answered. "They set up this little grotto for us, and used their magic to make it thrive underground. It's a fake sun also. I don't know how they did it, but the witches who can sense auras say that it practically screams with magic."

As he spoke, he glanced around the room. The council table was full, but one seat was conspicuously empty, and he nodded silently to himself; as predicted, Melinda had decided not to come. The chairs along the walls were for observers because anyone was welcome at a council meeting. After Chris had left and the politics of the place had started causing everything to unravel, very few people came to the meetings. Now, there were more bystanders here that he had ever seen before, and it was clearly an indication of how quickly news of the Charmed Ones' presence had spread.

As they entered, all eyes turned towards them. Some expressions were filled with awe, other suspicion, and some tinged with regret, pain, or anger. Phoebe faltered as all the emotions in the room hit her, and forcefully pushed mental barriers up around her mind.

The buzz of conversation died.

A man rose slowly, his eyes staring intently at the Charmed Ones. "Please," he said, his voice low and scratchy, "take a seat." He gestured to the four empty seats at the table, and the Charmed Ones and Greg complied. Then the man turned and addressed the rest of the room. "As I am sure you are all aware, the Charmed Ones from the past have come to our future. It is imperative that we send them back as soon as possible."

Under his breath, Greg whispered, "That's Rhodin. He's one of the Elders who survived the Great Attack." He didn't have a chance to explain what the Great Attack was, and the sisters didn't have a chance to ask, because the conversation was quickly moving.

"And without revealing too much of the future," another man said, his voice sharp and crisp. He gave Piper a long, hard stare, then said, "Although we could just end the problem now."

"Tyler," Greg said in a warning voice, giving the other man a glare.

"What? Just because you happen to be in love with Piper doesn't mean…"

"What?" Piper demanded, breaking into the conversation. She glanced over at Greg, who had flushed furiously red and avoided her gaze. Next to her, both Phoebe and Paige's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Do we… I mean, since Leo and I aren't… together… did we…"

"Wait, what?" a voice said sharply from behind the three sisters. All eyes turned to the man who stood in the doorway. He looked to be about sixteen, and he had unkempt brown hair and soft brown eyes. He was staring at Piper with a sort of desperation in his features. "You and Leo broke up?"

"Uh… yeah?"

The man considered this with a frown, then said, "But this is after Wyatt was born, right? I mean… Chris said he was going back in time to a point after Wyatt had been born but before…" He didn't finish the sentence, but his eyes retained the same confused look.

A murmur raced through the room as everyone else seemed to realize whatever had so upset this newcomer. The murmur rose louder, but Piper couldn't hear any distinct words. She frowned and tried to catch Greg's eye, but he was still staring at the teenager, and studiously avoiding her gaze.

"I'm sure he has everything under control, Henry," the man named Tyler spoke up.

The teenager in the doorway, Henry, nodded reluctantly. "Of course," he agreed. It was unlike Chris to go into something without some form of backup plan, but he also wasn't completely convinced that Chris wouldn't see his existence as something worth sacrificing to save the entire world. After all, there were very few people in this room who wouldn't give their life to change what had happened, to bring all their loved ones back and remove the threat once and for all.

"Has what under control? Who? What are you talking about?" Paige demanded when it became apparent that no one was going to explain what was going on.

Henry took a few steps into the room. He gaze at Paige for a long time, as though memorizing her features, and it was clear from the expression on his face that there was something he wanted to say. But he remained quiet, and eventually took a seat next to Tyler.

"We called you for the meeting, but we weren't sure if you were going to come," Tyler muttered under his breath. "Melinda didn't."

Henry looked down at the table. "It's hard," he admitted, but he said nothing else.

"Okay, back to the matter at hand," Rhodin said, rising from his seat and calling all attention to himself. "We need to rescue Chris and send him back. How?"

"Cole is in the Underworld," Greg spoke up softly. "He's trying to determine where exactly Chris is and what is happening to him." A hiss rose from the table, but he ignored it, no longer concerned by their dislike of Cole. "Once we know that exactly…"

"If Chris is with Him, we have no hope of rescuing him," a woman interrupted.

"True," another council member said. "It would be a suicide mission to go in there. Especially without a spy already in place, and we've lost ours."

"Did we ever have her to begin with?" Tyler snapped.

"Yes," the man that Piper recognized as Max agreed, "she is the one who brought Chris back to the future."

"Which she wouldn't have done," another voice said from the doorway, "if we hadn't have kicked her out of here and left her at His mercy." Daryl walked into the room, his eyes filled with anger as he addressed the council, "And it still appears that you choose to make important decisions without me. Haven't you learned your lesson by now, or does Chris actually need to die before that happens?"

"Daryl!" Phoebe exclaimed happily. He looked almost exactly the same, just a little bit older. His face was lined with wrinkles and his hair was streaked with gray. But he responded to Phoebe's greeting with the same smile and slight nod of his head.

"Your presence is growing tiresome here, Daryl," Max said coolly.

"Is it?" Daryl asked, folding his arms over his chest. "You're just a boy, Max. Just a little kid who still doesn't understand the way the real world words and you…"

"I know a lot more about it than you do!" Max hissed, jumping to his feet. "Just because you were friends with the Charmed Ones, you think that makes you an expert on any of this? You saw Wyatt grow up and that still wasn't enough for you to know how to stop this from happening!"

"Stop what?" Piper asked harshly, her voice ringing through the room. "And what does Wyatt have to do with any of it? Is my son really so important that he could have prevented this?"

The silence was almost deafening.

"They should know," an old woman sitting on one of the chairs along the walls said, giving Piper a long stare. "Perhaps, with the details, they would be better able to prevent everything."

"Chris made the decision not to, and I think it was the right one," Daryl answered. "He's the one who better understands time travel. He knows the dangers."

"If it affects, Wyatt, I have a right to know!" Piper said angrily, glaring at Daryl.

Daryl, however, did not back down from her glare. "Not if it only makes things worse, Piper. We don't know what the consequences of too much knowledge would be, and I for one am not willing to risk losing more than I already have."

"Wyatt is my son!" Piper argued.

"And our nephew," Paige chimed in.

"He's family," Phoebe added for good measure.

Daryl frowned and didn't say anything. It was too hard to think of the pain that Wyatt had caused him and his family, and although he knew he couldn't truly blame the Halliwells for not being able to stop this, it didn't make the pain any easier to bear.

"I think we need to focus on rescuing Chris," Henry said finally, breaking the tense silence that had fallen. He ran a hand through his brown hair and gave a sigh. He knew Melinda had been worried when she'd heard that Chris had fallen into Wyatt's hands again, and he'd promised to bring her news of the council's decision as soon as the meeting was over. He also understood why she refused to come to the meeting, why it would be too hard for her to see their family again.

He chanced a glance at Paige. His mother was so different from what he remembered. His memories of her were vague at best, he'd only been eight when she had died. Now she seemed so young, so vibrant, so alive.

It hurt just to look at her.

"Is it true that he's lost his memories?"

"Is it true that he's joined the other side?"

"If he's joined, how are we supposed to save him? He's already lost."

"Silence." Rhodin waited until everyone had stopped speaking and given him their full attention. Then he continued in a firm tone, "Piper, would you please explain to use how exactly Chris came to not remember his life?"

"It was during a fight with some demons," Piper replied. "He was being strangled, he lost oxygen for a while, and then he hit his head on the wall and lost consciousness. Leo wasn't able to heal his memory loss, so it isn't anything magical. His brain just needs to heal."

"Without his memories, it is certainly possible that Bianca would have been able to convince him that he was really on… his Lordship's side," Rhodin mused. "Did he remember anything at all?"

"Bits and pieces," Paige answered. "He said it was mostly emotions."

"We need to get him out of there as soon as possible," Henry said quietly, not raising his voice or his eyes. He stared blankly at the table, thinking. "Maybe I could go…"

"Too dangerous," Daryl said automatically, and his reply was echoed by several others. "You and Mel are too important to risk on this mission."

"Chris is more important than all of us," Henry countered. "He's the only one who has any chance of saving us. He's the only one who can fix this."

"Why? Why is Chris so important?" Piper asked with a suspicious frown. Was the witch-lighter much more powerful than he had let on?

"I would like to save him without sacrificing anybody," Rhodin said calmly, ignoring Piper's question. "But we may need to use Henry or Melinda. I'm not sure if there is another way."

"We could try getting through to Bianca," Daryl suggested. "But I still think we should wait until Cole comes back to report."

"I don't think Bianca is the most trustworthy…"

"She's our best link to Chris," one of the men sitting by the walls interrupted.

"And she's His best link to us. She's a traitor."

"No, she isn't. She's good. We just need to give her a chance."

"How can you be so certain?"

The noise in the room rose again as everyone began to offer their opinions, talking over each other, raising their voices louder and louder with each passing moment.

"This is ridiculous, we should just vanquish her."

"She loves Chris. She can get him back for us. We need to use her and we need to wait for Cole."

"Balthazar is a demon!"

"_Half_-demon."

"Still evil."

"There has to be another way to save Chris."

"What if we didn't save him? What if we just sent someone else back in time to save Wyatt?"

"Or stop him."

"I agree with that. With Chris joining His side, I saw we just stop the threat before it starts. That will save Chris."

"That would destroy him."

"And right now he's about to destroy all of us!"

"We cannot kill Him. I won't allow it."

"I don't want to kill Wyatt either, Daryl, but I don't know how much of a choice we have. He's evil, and he has Chris…" Henry began.

"What?" It was Piper's screech, high-pitched and echoing, that brought a sudden silence to the room. Her eyes narrowed into a frost glare, her voice dripping with fury and hatred, she looked straight at Henry and demanded viciously, "What did you just say about my son?"


	9. Painful Revelations

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Nine: Painful Revelations

Previously…

"_I don't want to kill Wyatt either, Daryl, but I don't know how much of a choice we have. He's evil, and he has Chris…" Henry began._

"_What?" It was Piper's screech, high-pitched and echoing, that brought a sudden silence to the room. Her eyes narrowed into a frost glare, her voice dripping with fury and hatred, she looked straight at Henry and demanded viciously, "What did you just say about my son?"_

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

Henry orbed. It was probably the stupidest thing to do at the moment, but he couldn't face his aunt's angry glare, he couldn't face the hatred in her eyes. Growing up, he'd been the youngest of the family, the baby. He'd been spoiled by his aunts and uncles, cooed at and fawned over by his mother. He wasn't prepared for anything but love from them, and seeing that look in Piper's eyes…

He coalesced into solid form right outside Melinda's room. He paused, one hand raised to knock on her door, then thought better of it. Did he really want to burden her with his own problems? She would have enough to deal with when it was her turn to face their family.

But Melinda, being the intuitive cousin that she was, pulled open the door without Henry needing to knock and opened her arms, allowing him to walked into her hug. She enveloped him tightly.

"I did something bad," Henry muttered into her shoulder.

Melinda smiled and pulled away from him enough to look down at his mop of hair. "You couldn't have done anything that bad," she protested with a soft smile. All her hard edges and cold lines were gone as she lead her younger cousin back into her room. She was bossy, she was harsh, she was arrogant, she was stubborn, she was naïve, she was blind to everything she didn't want to see… but no one could say she was not a good cousin.

"I told Aunt Piper that Wyatt was evil. They didn't know, and I… we were supposed to keep it a secret from them, but it just sort of slipped out and… Aunt Piper was so angry at me… I thought she might blow me up."

"What did you do?" Melinda asked, sitting down on her bed and pulling Henry down next to her. The room was small and sparsely furnished, like all the bedrooms at the Resistance. But it was private, the only place Melinda could go to get away from everyone else, and she appreciated the fact that she had her own special space.

"I orbed," Henry admitted guiltily. "I couldn't face her so I just…" He buried his head in his hands. "I ran away instead of facing her. I'm a coward."

"You are _not_ a coward," Melinda argued instantly. "Sweetheart, you are anything but a coward."

"They don't like Chris," Henry mumbled, his voice partially muffled by his hands. "I can feel it… they're so suspicious of him… how did he put up with? How could he…?"

"He's a Halliwell," Melinda replied. "Like you and me. We're strong."

"My mom was a Halliwell," Henry replied. Even if Paige had never taken the last name of her sisters, she was still a Halliwell in spirit and in power. "So was your mom and Aunt Piper. They were strong, and look what happened to them."

"We're going to fix that, Henry," Melinda replied. "Chris… we're going to get him back from Wyatt, we're going to help him go back to the past, and we're going to… we're going to save our future." She wrapped her arm around Henry's shoulder. "I promise."

"What do I tell Aunt Piper? How do I face her?" Henry pressed, resting his head on her shoulder.

Melinda sighed. "She was going to have to find out at some point. They all were. I guess we'll just give them some time to get used to what they've learned. Then, when you do face them…"

Henry abruptly pulled back and stiffened, his eyes widening as though he was listening to something Melinda couldn't hear.

"What is it?" Melinda asked worriedly.

"It's Daryl Jr. Something's gone wrong on his mission, he needs help," Henry replied, rising quickly. But then he paused and relaxed slightly. "Rhodin has gone to answer his call," he continued, repeating out loud the conversation going on in his head. "He wants me to stay here."

"Good," Melinda answered. Her frustration with Daryl did not extend to his son, who had been her babysitter and first crush while she was growing up, despite the fact that Daryl Jr. had been several years older than her. She would never have wanted anything to happen to him, but she also didn't want Henry to have to rush off into some dangerous situation while he was still feeling so lost and confused. At least Rhodin had recognized the importance of allowing Henry to have some time to himself to deal with what had happened.

Henry collapsed back onto the bed. "I wanted so much to see Mom again. I was always so angry that she wasn't allowed to come over, that the Powers That Be thought we weren't ready to see her… But now that she's here, I just… I don't…"

"That's not her," Melinda replied. "That's not my mom, not your mom, and not Aunt Piper. Not yet. These are the people they were before they became our mothers and aunts and… it's not the same thing. You know that."

"Yeah," Henry agreed. "I just don't get why everything has to be so hard."

* * *

_Resistance Council Chambers, 2025_

As Henry's orbs disappeared in a burst of white and blue lights, Piper felt her anger mounting. He couldn't just accuse her son of being evil and threaten to kill and then run from her without answering any questions. She turned her gaze to Rhodin, but his face was impassive and refused to yield any clues.

"Someone tell me what is going on!" Piper ordered furiously. "Now!"

With a sigh of resignation, Greg answered the question. "Pretty much what it sounds like, Piper. Chris didn't go back in time to stop some future demon. He went back to prevent Wyatt from becoming evil."

"I don't believe you," Piper spat. "Just because we apparently know each other in the future doesn't mean a single thing you are saying right now is the truth."

"Do you believe me?" Daryl asked quietly, his voice diffident. "Do you trust me?"

Piper spun around to face him. "Don't tell me you're actually going along with this? It's absurd! Wyatt isn't evil, he's my son and he…"

"He killed Shelia and Michael," Daryl interrupted her sentence. "He killed my wife and one of my sons in front of me. He's corrupted, Piper. Lost."

"You're lying," Piper retorted, shaking her head in denial. "You have to be."

"Believe me," Daryl interjected. "I wish I was." The room was entirely silent, listening to this exchange, and Daryl averted his gaze and stared out the window at the waterfall. "It happened eight years ago. He was… changing… before that. But it wasn't until eight years ago that he really lost it…"

"But Chris said…"

"Chris knew you wouldn't believe the truth," Max said. He, too, had risen to his feet, and he was leaning forward, the weight of his body resting on his hands as he pressed against the table. "He knew you wouldn't help him, wouldn't trust him, if he told you the truth about Wyatt."

"No," Phoebe said, now joining Piper's side. "This is impossible. Wyatt is the Twice Blessed, the next King Arthur. He's the Source of Goodness not of Evil. He would never do this to the world."

"The Wyatt you know most certainly is good," Rhodin agreed. "But he won't be for long." He looked as though he was about to say more, but he froze, his eyes widening. For a moment, everyone was quiet as they watched him have a silent conversation within his own mind. Then, shooting a worried look at Daryl, he said, "I have to go. This meeting is over until Cole returns with some sort of report." And he orbed away.

The others in the room began to file out, dismissed by Rhodin's words. Only Greg and Daryl remained, and Max lingered in the doorway, unsure of what to say. But he caught Greg's eyes, and the white-lighter gave a sharp shake of his head, indicating that the other man should leave them alone. Max left the room, albeit ungracefully, and everything was quiet.

"Piper, this isn't how we wanted you to find out," Greg said. "I… We were going to come up with a better way to tell you, I swear. Henry just… he didn't mean to let it slip like that."

"So what?" Piper asked harshly, "Chris has been trying to kill Wyatt this entire time?"

"No!" Daryl interjected quickly. "Chris wants to find the demon who turns Wyatt, and stop him. To save the future."

"This is… No," Piper said firmly. She shook her head. "No, I refuse to believe it. He cannot be evil. Leo and I would never have let that happen."

"We are we, anyway?" Paige asked, speaking for the first time since the revelation. The destroyed look on Henry's face right before he orbed out had tugged at her heart, and for some reason she couldn't quite convince herself that he had been lying.

Daryl and Greg exchanged a glance, then Greg shrugged and said bluntly, "You're dead."

"What?"

"It's part of the future Chris is trying to change," Greg replied. He sat down again, turning his chair so that he was facing all three sisters. "You've been gone for a while, which is part of the reason things have gotten so bad. Without the Charmed Ones…"

"So… let me get this straight. We're dead, Wyatt is evil, and all future hopes rely on a neurotic, lying, manipulative witch-lighter who is currently on the side of evil?" Piper snapped coldly.

"Piper, you should be nicer to Chris," Daryl said noncommittally. "He's just trying to help."

"We don't need his help," Piper retorted. "I will save my son myself, and I don't ever want to see him again." She turned away from all of them and stalked to the door, leaving her sisters speechless in her wake.

"Daryl, follow her," Greg instructed. "Just make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. Or get into trouble." Daryl left the room as well, hurrying after Piper's retreating figure. Greg glanced at the two remaining sisters and asked curiously, "Aren't you going to go after her too?"

"Actually, I would like some answers from you," Phoebe said in a business like manner.

Paige rose. "Fine. You get answers from him," she narrowed her eyes slightly and added, "and don't let him avoid the answers. I'm going to talk to Piper." She, too, left the room, and Phoebe was left alone with Greg.

"So… you are in love with Piper?" Phoebe asked.

Greg let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, I guess." He stood and walked away from Phoebe, staring out at the clear pool of water. "She and Leo… well, she loved him. Always has, always will. Even after he wasn't in the picture anymore. We dated for a while, off and on. A couple years after she died, I also died… but I was made a white-lighter."

"Why wasn't Leo in the picture anymore?" Phoebe pressed.

Greg shook his head. "There was an attack on the Heavens. The Great Attack. I can't… I can't tell you any more than that." It was a painful subject for him because he knew how much Leo's death had hurt Piper. He loved her dearly, and he had only wanted her to be happy. He would have sacrificed the few years he had with her if it meant bringing Leo back to life because he knew it was what she had truly wanted.

He tried to force away the aching thoughts. From everything the sisters had said, it sounded like they came from a point in time only a few weeks before he and Piper would meet. Nothing romantic would happen between the two of them for years after that, he would drift in and out of her life until after Leo died. She had been happily married at the time, and he had never dreamt of being the man to break up a marriage.

But now that Piper and Leo weren't together, what would happen? Reflecting on that, he realized that Piper and Leo needed to get back together, and quickly, or Chris would not be born.

"Do we have any family here?" Phoebe asked, wanting to pull Greg away from his obviously melancholy thoughts. For her, these deaths were just distant possibilities, but for everyone else here, it was the reality they had to live with every day.

"I can't tell you that," Greg answered. "Future consequences."

Phoebe opened her mouth to argue, but then decided against it. "And Wyatt…?"

"He's evil," Greg said flatly, not bothering sugar-coating his words. "He destroyed this world, turned it into what you see now. He's the one we keep referring to as His Lordship. He's the new Source."

"I don't understand… How?"

Greg turned, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "I don't know," he said wearily. "None of us do. We just… There is just so much we don't know."

"I can't believe it," Phoebe replied. "I just can't. Wyatt is so young and innocent and _good_."

Greg shrugged. "You have to believe it. You have to believe it because you have to stop it." With a faraway look in his eyes, he added, "And you have to stop fighting with Chris. You need to help him, you need to be on his side."

"Why? Why is he so important?" Phoebe demanded.

"He just is," Greg replied simply. "And you need to recognize that, or you will regret it."

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

Piper paused at the intersection of two hallways. She'd stormed from the council chambers and wandered aimlessly through the labyrinth of interconnecting passages. She could hear Daryl and Paige behind her, rushing to keep up with her rapid strides, but she hadn't paused for them until now.

She glanced around. She had no idea where she was, but it didn't really seem to matter. Nothing made sense right now, and certainly not this revelation that Wyatt was evil.

"Piper? Honey?" Paige came to her side tentatively, as though afraid Piper would blow her up. "How are you doing, sweetie?"

"How am I doing?" Piper repeated mockingly. "Gee, I don't know, Paige. I'm stuck in some horrible future where everyone thinks my son is evil and wants to kill him and Chris is apparently a saint! How do you think I'm doing." Her anger faded slightly at the hurt look on Paige's face, and she let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Paige. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's okay," Paige replied. "I know this must be so hard for you."

"I can't believe it. I won't believe it," Piper murmured. Behind them, Daryl came into view, and he listened silently as she spoke. "Wyatt wouldn't do this to the world. He just wouldn't. I wouldn't let him, Leo wouldn't let him. He's good, I know he is. I _know_ Wyatt."

"You don't, though," Daryl said, unable to refrain from entering the conversation. "Not this one, anyway. None of us do." His face softened as he took pity on Piper, and he said gently, "I loved Wyatt. We babysat for him, we had him over so much when he was growing up. And then he just… changed."

Piper lowered her gaze away from Daryl, refusing to believe him. She knew Daryl would never lie to her, especially not about something like this, but she just couldn't believe…

A glittering of orbs signaled the arrival of someone else, and before he was even fully formed, Henry was saying, "Daryl, did you…" And then he froze, seeing both Piper and Paige standing there, staring at him.

"Henry?" Daryl asked, trying to get between the young witch-lighter and the two Charmed Ones. He knew that neither of the sisters knew him as anything other than the stranger who had unceremoniously dropped this bombshell on him, and they wouldn't realize that they had any reason to be kind to him. But he also knew that the last thing Henry needed right now was to be torn apart by his own mother and aunt.

"What do you want?" Piper snapped, hands on her hips.

"Uh…" Henry's mouth went dry. He had only come to speak to Daryl, to inform him that Rhodin had contacted them with the news that Daryl Jr. was badly injured, but would survive. He wasn't sure if Daryl even knew that his son had been in danger in the first place, and he wanted Daryl to hear it from him before coming across his only living child's injured body.

"Have any more lies to tell?" Piper continued, unaware how her words were affecting the boy in front of her. She assumed that Henry was a white-lighter, having seen him orb, and therefore a lot older than he looked. It never occurred to her that she was yelling at a young boy.

"I wasn't lying," Henry protested feebly. "I didn't mean to tell you like that. It just slipped out. I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"It just slipped out?" Piper repeated skeptically. "That you wanted to kill my son?"

"I don't want to kill Wyatt!" Henry retorted.

At the same time, Daryl put a comforting hand on Henry's shoulder and said warningly to Piper, "Maybe you should just calm down, Piper. He didn't mean to hurt you."

"You said you wanted to kill Wyatt," Paige interrupted, ignoring Daryl. She wasn't anywhere near as angry at this boy as Piper was, but she was protective of her family, and he had mentioned needing to kill Wyatt.

"I didn't say I wanted to," Henry said softly, shrinking smaller and smaller into himself as Paige fixed him with a steely gaze. "I just said there might not be another way."

"There is always another way! Wyatt is not evil enough to justify killing him."

"Wyatt would kill his own family if he thought they stood in his way," Henry snapped, fury in his eyes at her words. They brought up too many unpleasant memories of deaths, days in this horrible life he didn't ever want to think about again.

"How dare you!" Piper snarled.

"Wyatt would never hurt us," Paige protested at the same time.

The hurt that flashed through Henry's eyes was enough to give Paige and Piper pause, but he was already turning away. Facing Daryl, he said, "We need to talk. It's about Daryl Jr."

"Is he okay?"

"Yes," Henry said quickly to forestall any fear and panic Daryl might be feeling. "He was injured in his mission. Rhodin is bring him back now. Come on, I can take you to the infirmary." He extended his hand for Daryl, who took it, but looked worriedly at Piper.

"I don't think it is a good idea to leave them here," he said to Henry. "Can you orb them to the council room? Phoebe and Greg are probably still there."

Henry nodded reluctantly, and orbed all of them away.

* * *

_Wyatt's Apartment, 2025_

"_Where are we?" Bianca whispered, glancing around the tunnel._

"_In the Underworld," Chris answered simply. It was dark, save for the faint light glowing in the distance. He scanned the area, searching for something specific that he could not seem to locate._

_Bianca shot him an annoyed glare but did not press the subject. Instead, she focused on the light in front of them, squinting into the darkness to see what it was. A flickering torch, a shining stone, an orb radiating glow?_

"_Water," Chris said at last, pulling Bianca towards the shadows. "That light…"_

_But Bianca had already reached the same conclusion he had. "A Seer's pool," she murmured. "We've come to the right place."_

"_Then where is everyone?" Chris asked worriedly. His own senses were on high alert, but Bianca was the trained assassin, more adept at determining the presences of others. "Why are we alone?"_

"_We're not," Bianca answered, and at the same moment a figure appeared before them._

Chris woke with a start and a gasp. The sun was just creeping over the horizon, casting gentle rays through the window of his bedroom. He pushed the covers away from his body and sat up in bed, blinking the sleep away. The apartment was silent, save for the slow and steady footfalls on the floor above him where the mock-attic was situated.

Wyatt was pacing.

He rose, bare feet landing on the cold floor, and walked quickly to the door. On second thought, he paused. If he wanted an explanation of the dream, he would need to speak to Bianca as she was the other person in his memory. He didn't know if he trusted her to tell him the complete truth, but he also wasn't sure if he trusted Wyatt.

He didn't like this feeling, this doubt. His brother and his fiancée should be two of the most important people in the world to him. He should be able to trust them without any misgivings. So why was this uncertainty plaguing him?

He reached for the door at the very moment that the sound of something rippling through the air caught his attention and he turned around to see Bianca appearing before him.

"You're awake," she said with a smile.

"Hey! Don't you know?" Chris protested. "I could have not been wearing clothes."

Bianca raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow and said with a smirk, "I've seen you without clothes before."

Chris flushed and nodded his head, recognizing the truth in that statement. After a moment's pause, he said, "I was actually going to come looking for you."

The Phoenix's smirk widened and she answered, "Here I am."

"I had a dream," Chris began, gesturing for Bianca to take a seat. He sat down on the edge of his bed and she perched on his desk chair, listening intently as he described what he had witnessed. At the end of his recounting, he asked, "What was that?"

"We were still working for the Resistance at the time," Bianca explained. She hesitated, then said, "We were tracking a very powerful Seer. Her name was Lavinia, and she was about as old as the world itself. Wyatt was worried she would make a bid for power and rise as the next Source. The Resistance, too, was worried about her, although more because they thought she was a threat to them than to the world in general."

"Did she take power?" Chris pressed, interested.

"No," Bianca answered tightly. "Turns out she didn't want it. She only wanted to save her love from some horrible fate he was enduring." She tilted her head to the side, trying to recall exactly what had transpired. "I believe, as the story goes, she had a split with her demonic love, who tried to win her back by vanquishing the Charmed Ones."

"How would that win her back?" Chris asked, aghast at the thought of his family in mortal danger all because of a lover's spat.

"It would show his bravery and courage, or something like that," Bianca replied. "He might have been after the Book of Shadows also… I don't remember the full story. Anyway, your mother and aunts sent him to hell, and Lavinia was so overcome by guilt that she tried to bring him back to life."

"I take it she didn't succeed?"

"No." Bianca shrugged slightly, less than concerned by the seer's fate. "Not yet, anyway." It was always a possibility that one day she would succeed, and if Orexio was brought back, then they would have to face the consequences of his powers and his rage. But she knew that Wyatt was more than a match for him, and it didn't worry her overly much.

"When we were trying to find her, someone else came in suddenly… I woke up before I knew who it was."

"A demon," Bianca replied. "We vanquished him." One of Wyatt's demons, actually, who had been following Chris with the intent to capture him and bring him back to his brother. It had been a swift but brutal fight, and Bianca had managed to win the upper hand and kill the demon before he could do any harm. Unfortunately, during the fight, Lavinia had disappeared with her seer's pool, and they hadn't been able to locate her again.

"Oh…" Again, Chris had the strangest feeling that she wasn't telling him the whole truth. But instead of pushing the subject, he nodded silently and let the feeling pass.

"Lavinia is still active in the Underworld. I think, occasionally, she works with the Resistance." Bianca didn't know how much to tell him. Lavinia was a strange demon who seemed less concerned with good and evil and more concerned with the fate of herself and her lover. She wandered about the Underworld, giving advice to random witches and demons, all the while collecting information. No doubt this would somehow help her raise Orexio from the dead.

"But not Wyatt?"

Bianca shook her head. "No, not Wyatt." She didn't elaborate, and Chris didn't ask questions, but as she stared at him, she saw the first tendrils of doubt wandering through his mind.

How much longer would she be forced to play this game? How much longer would she need to plan out every step, every decision, long before they actually happened?

And what would happen if she made even one single mistake?

* * *

_Underworld, 2025_

Lavinia didn't turn around as Cole entered the cave. She didn't need to. Staring into the depths of her pool, she could see much more than just the world around her. She knew Cole was here, and she knew why.

"Back for advice?" she asked, still keeping her back to him. "And there I thought you didn't like me very much."

"I don't," Cole replied. "But my own likes and dislikes are not quite as important as saving the world. Can you help me?"

"Why would I be interested in saving the world?" Lavinia asked, glancing over her shoulder with a quirked eyebrow and a silky smile. "What do I get in return?"

"What do you want?" Cole asked warily.

"Unless I am much mistaken," Lavinia murmured, looking down at the dark water in her pool, "you are playing host to some very interesting visitors."

"You know that the Charmed Ones are here," Cole asked.

"I do," Lavinia answered bluntly. "And I'm pretty certain I know exactly what time they are from." She waved her hand over the water, watching the swirling depths yield images. "I'll help you on one condition."

"Which is?"

"When the Charmed Ones return to their time, they don't vanquish Orexio."

Cole didn't say anything. He doubted he would be able to convince the sisters to make that agreement unless they realized that there was no other option. But the only way they would understand how important it was to save Chris from his current fate was if they understood how important Chris himself was.

"Get back to me on it, will you?" Lavinia murmured.

Cole nodded and shimmered from the cave.

Lavinia sighed. Cole wanted to save Chris, and to do so, he would need Bianca's help. He knew that, and he knew she wouldn't help him unless she was convinced that Chris would be safe and the world could possibly be rescued from this horrible fate. And the Phoenix would certainly want to make sure that Chris had a way back to the future, a way to return to his home and his family.

She looked down at the pool, watching as Gideon drove his cursed athame into the stomach of the brunette witch-lighter, watching as Chris took a gasping breath and crumpled to the floor.

She waved her hand, and the image faded.

Cole may go to as much trouble as he wished, but Bianca's dreams would not be fulfilled. No matter what anyone did, once Chris walked through that portal that lead to the past, he would never return to this time.


	10. Mothers and Daughters

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: So I know there hasn't been much Chris in the past couple chapters, and there won't be much of him in this one either. But I promise he will start playing a much bigger role in everything soon.

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Ten: Mothers and Daughters

_Underworld, 2015_

"_Focus, Bianca," Lynn instructed, holding her hand out to steady her daughter. "The target is right in front of you. Visualize what you want the athame to do, where you want it to strike."_

_Bianca swallowed and nodded, eager to prove her worth. She stared at the target on the wall in front of her, a cloth doll that her mother had stolen from a mall the day before. The doll was small, much smaller than an actual person, but a Phoenix was supposed to be able to hit any target, no matter the size of placement._

_She threw the athame, and it struck the doll in the head, neatly slicing through the yarn hair._

"_Very good," Lynn said, a smile gracing her lips. Bianca flushed at her mother's praise. "But," Lynn cautioned, "actual targets will be moving. They will fight back. They will be much harder to kill."_

"_I know, Mother," Bianca answered, bowing her head and summoning the athame back to her hand._

"_Good," Lynn said decidedly. "With practice, you will be a very good assassin, my daughter."_

"_Of course," Bianca answered off-handedly, a grin tugging at her lips. "I'm a Phoenix, aren't I?"_

_Lynn laughed at her daughter's candor and arrogance. "Yes, you are," she agreed, ruffling Bianca's hair fondly. "You certainly are." She turned away, preparing to leave Bianca to her practice. But as she moved, Bianca reached out and caught her by the arm. She looked down, "Yes?"_

"_Mother? What does it feel like to kill?"_

_Lynn frowned at the question and reached down to lift Bianca's young face upwards. Staring her daughter in the eye, she answered firmly, "You don't feel a thing."_

* * *

_Los Angeles, 2017_

_Bianca glanced through the house, her keen eyes able to distinguish different objects in the darkness. The floor creaked lightly under her footsteps, and she froze, worried. But there was no answering movement from the rooms above or around her, so she moved on calmly._

_At the foot of the stairs, she paused and looked behind her. The two other Phoenixes who had accompanied her on this mission were slipping towards other rooms, seeking their magical contents. The target was a witch in her earlier thirties who was apparently practicing very powerful magic. It was their job to kill her and take the potions and other magical objects she had gathered._

_Because the witch was so powerful, they had cased the house for two days. They had watched the witches habits, they had studied her comings and goings, they had ascertained when she was alone and when she was vulnerable._

_Bianca climbed the stairs._

_At the door to the bedroom, she pulled the athame from her pocket. Holding her breath, she pushed the door open and slipped into the room. The witch was asleep on the bed, her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Her black hair cascaded over the white pillow, her pale skin aglow with the moonlight that fell through the partially open window._

_Bianca threw the athame._

_As she turned away from the completed job, her eyes fell on the book that rested on the top of the dresser near the door. It was Shakespeare's _Othello

"_I've read that," Bianca murmured to herself. "I _enjoyed_ reading it."_

* * *

_Underworld, 2019_

"_You're not focusing," Lynn said calmly. "You're tense. I can see it, I can feel it."_

_Bianca shoved her hands into her pockets and stared at her mother. "I don't want to do this, Mother. I just don't." She glared defiantly, almost daring Lynn to argue with her._

"_Bianca, listen to me. You are a Phoenix. This is what you do."_

"_What if I don't want to do it?" Bianca asked. "What if I just want to be something else?"_

"_You can't be anything else," Lynn said softly, brushing her daughter's hair out of her face. "You are a Phoenix, you are a member of this clan, you are my daughter. You can't ever change who you are."_

"_Who am I, Mother?" Bianca snapped. "I'm your daughter, I'm a member of the Phoenixes. I'm tired of being defined by my relationship to someone else. I want to be myself!"_

"_You are part of something bigger than just yourself," Lynn said sternly. "You have to think about the bigger picture."_

"_Why? So I can stay with a clan of family members who don't understand me, don't care about me?"_

"_We care!" Lynn cried, aghast at the comment. How could her daughter think that she didn't care?_

"_No, they care about me as a Phoenix, not as a person," Bianca snarled before shimmering from the cave._

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

"I need to get out of here," Piper said, pacing back and forth across the stone floor. Her voice was growing louder in panic, and she kept wringing her hands. Greg had taken her, Paige, and Phoebe to the rooms they would stay in until this entire mess was fixed, but being alone had not helped ease her fears and anger.

Phoebe glanced up at her older sister. She'd told her everything that Greg had said, and everything he had felt while he was speaking. Piper had waved away Greg's confessions, not able to comprehend any more information than what she had learned.

"Sweetie…" Paige began.

"No, I really need to get out of here!" Piper hissed, running a hand through her hair. "I can't stay in this place. I just can't!"

"It's not safe out there," Phoebe pointed out logically. The Resistance was the only sanctuary, and as much as she did not want to trust the people here, she had to admit that they were much safer here than anywhere else.

"Oh, come on," Piper snapped, "do you really think Wyatt is going to hurt me? Us?"

Paige bit her lip. She didn't want to give the wrong answer, but she couldn't say what she was thinking. Because she did truly believe that Wyatt would hurt them if necessary. According to Daryl, he had done more than just hurt Shelia and Michael, and before today she'd never have believed that Wyatt was evil.

"Why didn't Chris tell us?" Phoebe murmured, rubbing her aching head. It would have been so much easier if they had known all this before. If they had been prepared…

But would they have believed him?

"Why do we need him?" Piper asked suddenly, frowning at her sisters. "Why are we still here trying to save him? The Resistance knows he's here. They can save him, and we can go back to the past and stop this entire world from happening."

"We can't just leave Chris, Piper," Phoebe countered gently. "He's an innocent and he's in danger."

"He's not an innocent," Piper retorted harshly.

Paige and Phoebe exchanged a glance but didn't argue with her. There was no way Piper would listen to them right now, and both had to admit their suspicions of Chris had not abated, regardless of what everyone had said.

Piper walked over to the door and pushed it open, stepping out into the hallway. Phoebe and Paige hurried behind her, and the three stood still, glancing around. The labyrinth of hallways twisted away from them, and a few people wandered about, clearly ignoring the presence of the sisters.

"Piper, Greg said we shouldn't leave," Phoebe pointed out gently, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"So what? He's a white-lighter, if he needs to find us, he can sense," Piper retorted.

"Still…"

"Do you really want to stay in that room while they make decisions without us?" Piper asked quietly, knowing both her sisters well enough to know that they would give in to her point of view eventually. "Maybe we can learn something else if we wander around a bit?"

Paige shrugged, Phoebe nodded, and the Charmed Ones set off through the hallway.

* * *

_Resistance Infirmary, 2025_

"Why is it taking so long for him to heal?" Daryl demanded, watching as Rhodin's glowing hands slowly closed the wound in his son's chest.

"He almost died, Daryl," Henry said gently, his tone slightly chiding. "Rhodin just needs a little more time to…"

Daryl Jr moaned suddenly, his eyes flickering open. He swatted away Rhodin's hand before the healing was complete and sat up, his vision blurry and confused. Licking dry lips, he glanced down at the blood on his shirt and let out a long and shaky sigh.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Melinda said calmly, smiling at him from where she sat on the other side of the bed.

Rhodin extended his hands again to finish the healing, and Daryl Jr. turned his attention to his father.

"D.J., don't ever do that to me again!" Daryl threatened, ruffling his son's hair. "I nearly had a heart attack."

D.J.'s lips quirked into a smile as he quipped, "That's because you never eat healthily. No fruits and vegetables." He glanced back at Melinda, who was watching him with uncharacteristic silence, then turned his attention to Henry, who looked pale and worn. "What's going on?"

"The Charmed Ones from the past are here," Daryl explained reluctantly, not wishing to burden his son with details of the tensions in the Resistance.

"What? How? Why?" D.J. asked. The healing finally over, he sat up fully, arranging the pillows behind his back and shooting a questioning look to his father.

"Chris is back here. Wyatt has him. The sisters followed to get him back…" Daryl trailed off hesitantly, unsure how much to reveal. He gave Henry a questioning look, and the young witch-lighter replied with a shrug, indicating that it was okay if he explained the way in which the truth about Wyatt had been revealed.

"Do they know who he is?" D.J. asked automatically.

"No," Henry answered calmly, softly, although his voice wavered a bit. "They didn't even know about Wyatt being evil…"

"Until the Resistance meeting, when the truth was accidentally…" Melinda hesitated, searching for the right word, "blurted… to them."

"Who would be stupid enough to tell them about Wyatt without preparing them first?" D.J. asked with a frown.

Henry raised his hand and gave a bittersweet and sarcastic smile. "That would be me."

"It slipped out at the meeting," Daryl rushed to say, before his son could ask any more questions. "They were being difficult to deal with, and Henry accidentally said it."

"I don't like them much from this year," Melinda said, scrunching her nose slightly. At Daryl's questioning stare, she shrugged and added, "I know I haven't seen them yet, but they sounded like such… brats."

"This coming from the girl who idolized her mother," D.J. teased. Melinda opened her mouth to deny it, but he rushed on, "Come on, Mel. For years you thought she practically hung the sun in the sky!"

"She was Aunt Phoebe then," Henry said quietly, a wistful look in his eyes, remembering his few memories of a happier time, when everyone was still alive and together and good. "She's not now," he added, his voice hardening.

D.J. frowned, concerned by the anger and pain he could see in his friend's eyes. Instead of pressing Henry on the subject, however,, he switched to a different topic. "How did Wyatt get to Chris?"

"Bianca brought him back," Melinda snapped forcefully, her eyes blazing with sudden fury. She rose to her feet and began to pace, her footsteps loud and angry. "She apparently convinced him that he was on Wyatt's side."

"What? How?"

"Chris lost his memories," Daryl interjected, giving Melinda a sharp stare. "Bianca was able to use that to twist his thinking… something she never would have done had she not been kicked out of here in the first place."

"She was a threat, Daryl," Melinda retorted heatedly. "Something proven by the fact that she betrayed Chris!"

"Wyatt had her," Daryl said calmly, eying Melinda coldly. "Wyatt can make anyone do anything." His lips flattened into a thin line and he added, "Just because Wyatt had never tried to torture your into submission doesn't mean he won't do it to other people."

"You're just fishing for ways to prove that Bianca was an innocent," Melinda argued. "When will you accept that she wasn't?"

"When will you realize that the world isn't black and white?" Daryl answered, his face turning into an ugly sneer. "Good and evil aren't as separate as you think."

"Now you're starting to sound like Wyatt," Melinda mocked, rolling her eyes. "Next thing we know, you'll be telling us that morals we grew up with are all false."

D.J. groaned, leaning back on the pillows. He had been underground on a mission for a long time, and although he had heard bits and pieces of what was happening at the Resistance, he had not realized just how serious the situation was. He was annoyed with Melinda for acting so cruelly to his father, but he could not deny that he saw her point of view. Bianca had never been his favorite person, and when Chris first brought her back, he had been both astonished and suspicious.

"Guys," Henry murmured, giving D.J. a concerned look, "I don't think this is the time or place for this argument."

Melinda, noting how pale D.J. was and how drawn his features appeared, turned apologetic at once. "Of course not," she said guiltily. "I'm sorry, D.J. You probably need some rest right now."

Daryl, too, softened his expression. Running a hand through his son's hair, he said, "You feel a little warm. You need to sleep so your body can heal."

"Rhodin healed me," D.J. protested.

"You know it takes time after a healing for the body to realize that it is all better," Melinda answered, pushing the covers up around his shoulders. "You almost died."

"She's right," Daryl contributed his own thoughts.

Daryl and Melinda may have disagreed on almost every other aspect of the Resistance , but they agreed on D.J. With the two of them standing side-by-side, staring down at him with identical looks of concern and love, he knew he was fighting a losing battle.

"Alright, alright, I'll sleep," he muttered.

And right at that moment, the door to the infirmary was pushed open, and Piper, Phoebe, and Paige walked through.

Melinda froze. Her eyes moved quickly to Phoebe's face, then she looked away. Henry, too, stiffened, although he carefully kept his face averted from the three sisters. D.J. propped himself up on his bed, looking mildly surprised by the intrusion.

It was Daryl who spoke, his voice gently questioning. "I thought Greg was going to show you to your rooms? Are you lost?"

"He showed us," Piper said irritably. "Did you really think we wanted to stay there all day?" She glanced around the infirmary. Unlike the rest of the dreary building, it was painted in pastel blue and greens. A row of windows looked out onto the same waterfall that could be seen from the council chambers. The sunlight the streamed through the glass lit up the room in a warm golden glow.

But even all this could not compensate for the rows of hospital beds, uniform in their gray drabness, or the smell of hydrogen peroxide and sanitation that permeated the entire room.

"Why do you have so many medical supplies?" Paige asked, her eyes drawn to a nearby cabinet, half-open and filled with syringes, needles, and bandages. "Can't the white-lighters heal you?"

"We don't have so many white-lighters," Daryl answered. "And not all wounds can be healed with their magic." It recent years, Wyatt had devised a potion that made a wound immune to any form of magical healing. Demons did not always use it, but when they did, it was handy to have mortal doctors and medical supplies on hand.

"Oh…"

Daryl turned his attention away from the sisters. Henry was staring at the floor, having found the plain white tiles fascination. Melinda's expression wavered between incredulous awe, pain, and anger, and she had her hands clasped so tightly in front of her that her knuckles had turned completely white. Neither of them looked as though they wanted to be in this room, and yet both of them had the faintest tinge of yearning in their eyes.

"Henry, Mel, we can handle it from here," Daryl said. "You can go if you want." He didn't want to force either of them to endure more pain.

"Actually, Dad," D.J. spoke up, glancing at Melinda, "why don't you take the sisters somewhere else? The three of us," he gestured to Melinda and Henry, "can stay here and talk. We have a lot to get caught up on."

"Wow, little Daryl Jr.," Phoebe said, taking a step towards him. "You're all grown up."

"Tends to happen as you get older," D.J. quipped.

"I remember you when you were just a toddler, running around the house in diapers and not much else," Phoebe continued.

Daryl laughed, but D.J. flushed a deep red.

"Not fun being on the receiving end of those jokes, is it?" Henry interjected, smiling. Being the youngest surviving of the second generation of Halliwells, he had often found the others reminiscing about the times he would rush about without his clothes on after a bath, attempt to tie his own shoes and stumble down the stairs, or accidentally cast a spell that turned himself into an anteater.

D.J. reached up and playfully slapped Henry on the arm.

"You're friends with him?" Piper asked suddenly, eying Henry.

The boy stiffened, and D.J. said hastily, "Dad, shouldn't you guys figure out how to get Chris back?" He jerked his head towards the door, eyes widening slightly. He could see Henry shrinking away from the sisters.

But Melinda's temper had suddenly exploded, and she demanded furiously, "Is there something wrong with us being friends with D.J.?"

"Who are you?" Phoebe asked curiously, seeming to finally realize that she didn't recognize all the people in the room.

"Melinda is a family friend," Daryl said when it became evident that Melinda was not going to answer the question. Although he was still angry and disappointed at the way she had treated Bianca and so casually disregarded his opinions on the matter, he couldn't deny that the scared deer-caught-in-the-headlights look on her face troubled him. When Melinda was born, he had sworn to Phoebe that he would do everything to protect the little girl. He'd sworn that to all the Halliwells, and he'd failed on so many accounts. He wasn't going to fail on this one.

Phoebe, meanwhile, stared at Melinda. The name raised alarm bells for her, and she wondered quickly if the girl who bore their ancestor's name was in anyway related to her. She looked like a Halliwell, from the doe-eyes and brown hair to the stubborn tilt of the chin.

"Anyway, I think D.J. needs some rest, so why don't I take the three of you somewhere? We can't really do anything until Cole gets back with a report, but…"

"You want us to trust Cole?" Paige interrupted. Next to her, Phoebe bit her lip and looked at Daryl with an unreadable expression. Piper placed a calming hand on Phoebe's shoulder, and she too turned accusatory and suspicious eyes to their friend.

"He's the only one who is going to be able to provide any answers," Daryl replied firmly.

"We need to talk about this," Melinda said. "We can't trust him with Chris' life."

"Cole wouldn't hurt Chris," D.J. replied reasonably. Melinda gave a snort of disbelief, and he pressed, "You know he loves Chris."

"Great," Piper huffed. "So our lying witch-lighter also has connections to demons? This day just keeps getting better."

"I don't think you should talk about Chris like that," Melinda murmured, looking intently at Piper.

"Why is everyone so determined to protect him?" Piper demanded, throwing her hands up on the air in frustration and bewilderment. "All he has done since he came to the past is…"

"…try to save Wyatt and the world," Melinda finished for her. She shook her head for a moment, then glanced over at Henry. The teenager had stuffed his hands into his pockets and was staring at the window behind D.J., determinedly avoiding everyone else's gaze. She reached out and took him by the arm, then said, "Can you orb us back to my room?"

Henry obliged, and the two disappeared in a swirl of orbs.

* * *

_Wyatt's Apartment, 2025_

Chris watched as Wyatt spoke in low undertones to another man on the opposite side of the room. The man had shimmered in unannounced, but clearly bearing ill news, and he could practically feel the annoyance radiating from his older brother. He unconsciously clenched his fists, as though expecting Wyatt to explode.

His mind wandered quietly over the events of the past few days. From losing his memory to traveling through time, this had been an eventful week. But, as always, lingering doubts played through his mind, asking unanswerable questions.

He hadn't seen Bianca since the early morning. Her absence bothered him, but not as much as he would have expected. There was no doubt in his mind that she loved him, but every time he spoke to her, he couldn't help feeling suspicion and distrust.

When she had first come to the past for him, she had spoken of Wyatt as though she was afraid of him. There had been something in her eyes, in her movements, that spoke of years of fighting just to stay alive. Yet here, in this apartment he had not yet left, she and Wyatt spoke to each other with civil words, and she appeared to have an easier life. So… was she lying to him now, or had she been lying to him then?

He looked again at Wyatt. He felt conflicting feelings when he watched his brother. Undeniable love, but fear as well, and despair. Disappointment. A shiver ran down his spine as Wyatt turned away from the other man in fury. There was something about the look on the Twice Blessed's face that reminded him of something he couldn't quite place. A feeling, an emotion, a all-but-forgotten memory of some other event, some other time.

These thoughts also brought him back to questions about his parents. It had been rather obvious from his short time in the past that he was not well liked by his family. They, of course, did not know who he was, but he could not help but feel betrayal at the fact that his only family seemed to view him as nothing more than a nuisance.

"Wy, I'm going to get something to drink," Chris announced abruptly, wanting to get out of the room.

Wyatt turned to him and nodded, "Sure, Chris. I'll meet you in the kitchen in a moment."

He rose and walked from the room, pausing to glance behind him only once. In the kitchen, he poured himself a glass of water, took a seat, and rested his head on the top of the table. After a moment of silent thinking, he came to the only possible conclusion.

Wyatt and Bianca were both lying to him about something, he just didn't know what it was.

He rose again, this time more quietly, and slipped to the door of the kitchen. Standing there, praying he wouldn't be seen, he peered through the doorway into the living room. Wyatt was still standing there, staring at the other man, but now he looked different. More powerful, stronger, more… cruel.

"I have you specific instructions," Wyatt snarled. "Even a demon like yourself should have been able to complete them."

"The Charmed Ones have taken sanctuary at the Resistance, my Lord," the demon said, quaking. His voice shook with fear and apprehension.

Wyatt narrowed his eyes. "So?"

"We cannot enter the Resistance," the demon muttered, staring at the ground. "The spells that protect it are too strong." He cringed and cowered, expecting punishment.

"Then bring the Charmed Ones out of the Resistance," Wyatt snapped, rolling his eyes.

"But… how?"

"Cast a spell on them," Wyatt hissed. "Kidnap an innocent and demand a trade. Do whatever is necessary. I need them out of there."

"But…" The demon paused. It was impossible to cast spells on someone who was inside the boundaries of the Resistance Stronghold. It was not, however, impossible to cast a spell on a Resistance member who had left the safety of their sanctuary. If he could find someone who was outside the stronghold, but about to go back inside…

"The Resistance will know of Chris' presence here. It is imperative to remove the Charmed Ones and send them back to their own time before they have the opportunity to attack here. I will not let them near my brother."

"I understand, my Lord," the demon murmured.

"Good," Wyatt said. The demon prepared to shimmer away, but Wyatt stopped him. "One more thing… No harm may come to my family. At least… nothing permanent. They must return to the past… alive."

The demon bowed and shimmered away, and Chris quickly returned to his seat at the kitchen table.

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

It had been so much harder than she wanted to admit. Having lead the Resistance in Chris' absence, she considered herself a strong person. Having worked for years to save people from her cousin's ruthless reign, she considered herself courageous, mature, and brave. So then why did she feel like a little girl the moment she stared into her mother's eyes?

Melinda stared at the waterfall. She used to love this little glade, the fresh air and the green grass reminding her of happier times. But lately, she had seen it as nothing more than a frivolous dream. The reality of this world was stark and cold and gray.

"Melinda?"

She jumped, and turned around. Phoebe was standing there, underneath an arch of interlocking braches that hung over the entrance to the clearing.

"What are you doing here?" Melinda demanded angrily. "Why didn't you stay with Daryl? You can't keep running away from people. We're just trying to protect you, and you aren't making this easier."

"I did stay with Daryl for a few hours," Phoebe replied. "We did some research about time travel, and then talked a little bit about his life. He couldn't tell us that much," she gave a wry grin, "future consequences and all." She glanced around, then added, "We were tired of being inside, so he brought us here. Piper and Paige are somewhere here also."

"It's pretty big," Melinda consented, glancing up at the magically-created sun.

"Daryl said you lead the Resistance," Phoebe said casually.

Melinda shrugged. "I do my best," she replied.

"Why? You're so young, how can you lead it? Why does it have to be your burden?" Phoebe pressed. She wasn't sure how or why, but she felt a strong connection with this young woman.

Melinda rolled her eyes. "In this world, you grow up fast," she answered. She turned away from her mother, hoping that the Charmed One would get the hint that she wanted to be left alone. She loved her mother and her aunts dearly, but they had hurt Henry in their anger at his words, and she couldn't just forgive that. They might not have known why he was important, but for so long, Henry had been the baby of the family, the one they all wanted to protect. With Chris gone, Henry was her only family. She was not quick to forgive slights against him.

"You know, I get the feeling that we aren't that well liked here," Phoebe remarked, trying to draw answers out of the taciturn Melinda.

"Well, I don't think coming in her and insulting Chris, Henry, and the rest of us was the best way to win our friendship," Melinda said sarcastically. As long as she pretended that Phoebe was just another witch, and not her mother, then she wouldn't fall apart. She could make it through this conversation.

"We were caught by surprise," Phoebe defended herself and her sisters. "Henry dropped this huge bombshell on Piper. Of course she wasn't going to take it well."

"I heard that you didn't take anything well," Melinda snapped irritably. "You keep demanding answers from everyone. You keep acting as though you deserve to know everything," she continued, her anger mounting. She'd heard rumors of how Greg had been treated when he first saved them, with suspicion and open contempt, and it made her livid. Greg was another member of the Resistance she did not care for, but he didn't deserve their haughtiness.

"This is our future, and if Wyatt is going to play such a big role in it…" Phoebe began, but Melinda cut her off.

"It's our _lives_, and you are guests in our home."

Phoebe sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. I think we started on the wrong foot. I just wanted to… talk, I guess."

"Why?" Melinda asked warily. The fact that Phoebe had wanted to talk meant that she must have felt a sort of pull or connection. She was both elated and scared by the idea that her mother knew that she was important to her even before she was born.

"I don't know," Phoebe admitted with a shrug. "I just feel a connection to you, I guess. I thought, maybe… well, Daryl said you were a family friend. And since Daryl is one of our friends, I thought maybe we knew you also." She waited hopefully, but Melinda just gave her a blank stare. Not sure what else to do, she changed the subject. "Okay… So, you don't like Cole."

Melinda shrugged, raising one eyebrow. "He's a demon," she said pointedly.

"Greg seemed to get along with him. And Daryl and D.J."

Melinda pursed her lips. "Daryl doesn't know what he is talking about. He thinks that having known about magic for so long, he's qualified to make those kinds of judgments. Cole is a demon. Period." She didn't mention D.J. or Greg, and Phoebe didn't comment on it.

"And I take it you don't like Bianca."

"Same reason," Melinda said in a bored tone. "She's an assassin witch. She can't be trusted." Rolling her eyes, she added, "Chris was an idiot to get engaged to her."

"Phoebe?" Piper's voice called before the older Charmed One appeared in the glade. She frowned when she caught sight of Melinda, but forced a smile. "Hello, Melinda."

Melinda nodded brusquely, but didn't return the greeting. It was clear now that Phoebe would not leave her alone, and Piper's added presence only made the situation worse. With that thought in mind, she decided to leave. She had only made it a few steps towards a path that twisted back to the infirmary, when Phoebe said, "Are you leaving?"

"I have work to do," Melinda answered.

Phoebe gave Melinda a searching look, then nodded. "Fine," she said. "I guess we will see you around."

Melinda didn't answer, but simply turned and walked away.

* * *

_Underworld, 2021_

"_NO!"_

_The word, cried in panic and fear and fury, echoed through the cave, bringing all activity to a screeching halt. But it was too late to stop the inevitable, and the potion had already left the witch's hand, sailing through the air and smashing against Lynn's chest. The Phoenix hissed in pain as she crumpled to the floor, and she just barely heard Bianca's frantic cry before the darkness claimed her._

_Bianca rushed forward, tears stinging against her eyes. She hadn't spoken to her mother in a year. Their arguments had become more and more frequent in the last few months before her sudden departure, and she simply hadn't been able to stand the tension. She'd left, tired of having to sacrifice her own interests to the greater good of her family. She'd ignored her mother's pleas to come back home, and now that she was finally here, it was too late._

_Her cousin had called, saying that their clan had been targeted by a coven of witches, and could she come to help. She had, reluctantly, until she learned that her mother had been trapped and was probably going to be killed. She'd practically flown to the Underworld, to the site of the battle, but it wasn't enough…_

"_I'm sorry," Bianca sobbed, dropping to her knees beside her mother's still form. "I'm so sorry." She clung to her mother's cold hand, letting the tears fall. "I am your daughter. Always."_


	11. Another Glimpse

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: I know there hasn't been much Chris in the past two chapters, but there will be a lot of him in this one. It's pretty much centered on him as he struggles to figure out what is going on.

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Another Glimpse

_Wyatt's Apartment, 2025_

Chris sat nervously on the sofa, staring at the piece of paper in his hand. The sun was rising, casting rays of light through the window behind him. He had been in the future… well, he supposed it was really his present… for two days already, and it was feeling less and less like a good decision to come back with Bianca.

From the bits and pieces of what he had learned in the past, and a few conversations he had overheard between Wyatt and his followers, he had ascertained that all it took to create a spell was rhyming words. He wasn't particularly good at this, but he had managed to come up with what looked like a possibly decent spell.

He read the words slowly, saying them under his breath.

"Secrets locked deep inside,

Open for me now

So I can find the answers

And receive the truth somehow."

Nothing happened. He frowned, waiting, but his spell seemed not to have worked. In frustration, he tore the piece of paper to shred and dumped it into the nearest garbage. Then he rose and began to pace back and forth across the room.

Why had he even expected it to work? Leo had tried to heal him in the past, and it hadn't brought back his memories. Clearly, this was not going to be solved with magic. He would have to find the answers he was looking for through some other means.

Just as he thought this, he felt a pull in his chest as though he was being forcefully dragged forward. He stumbled, and the world seemed to swirl around him. When the spinning stopped, he slowly righted himself, and found, to his dismay, that he had no idea where he was.

He appeared to be standing in a hallway. It was dimly lit, and as his eyes adjusted to the light, he realized it looked like some kind of school. A few doors opened into rooms on either side of the hallway, and up ahead a set of double doors lead into what appeared to be a lounge or common room of some sort.

"Spell casting," a voice said from behind him. "Not the smartest idea, especially when you don't know how to write spells. Too many side-effects."

Chris spun around, and found himself staring at a wolf. His first instinct was to orb away before the wolf had a chance to attack, but something in the creature's eyes stopped him. He leaned forward, mesmerized by the strange glow emanating from the wolf.

The creature turned, tail flicking back and forth behind it, and began to softly pad away. Chris, without thinking what he was doing, followed the animal. They walked in silence through the hallway, then the wolf suddenly stopped and stared ahead, finding its path blocked by a dead-end. For a moment, neither moved, then the wolf plodded forward, passing through the wooden wall as though it was not even there.

Chris hesitated, then he gingerly stepped forward, placing his hand against the wall and watching in amazement as his fingers slid right through it, disappearing from view. He let the rest of him fall through the wall, and found himself in a large room. Again, the room was dimly lit, the only source of light being a flickering fire in the very center. The smoke swirled up from the flames, disappearing through the ceiling. Behind the fire sat a young woman with dark hair and dark eyes.

"I see you followed my wolf," she said.

Chris suddenly seemed to realize the dilemma in which he found himself. He had no idea where he was, and no idea if he could get out of it. He didn't know who this woman was, and her certainly wasn't about to trust her. But when he tried to orb away, it was as though something was blocking his magic, preventing him from moving. His next thought was to call for Wyatt, but the strange woman spoke before he had a chance to ask for his brother's help.

"I doubt calling Wyatt would help," she said. "He probably won't be able to hear you."

"He'll vanquish you if you hurt me," Chris said confidently.

The woman laughed. "Probably," she agreed. "So I suppose it is lucky for me that I do not intend to hurt you. Also lucky that I do not think Wyatt can find me here."

"Who are you? Where am I? Why am I here?"

The woman tilted her head to the side, regarding Chris thoughtfully for a moment. "My name is Enola," she said. "I'm a shaman. At one point or another, I was a Shaman in a place called Magic School. The School was destroyed by demons a few years before Wyatt took power. Or… it will be destroyed by demons… I'm not really sure."

"Huh?"

Enola sighed slightly at Chris' bewildered expression. "You are outside of time, Chris. And so am I."

"I don't understand," Chris murmured, deciding to trust Enola for the time being. He took a seat across from her, staring at her through the flickering red and orange flames of the fire. It was then that he noticed the small cauldron-like bowl in the center of the flames, completely consumed by the burning fire. It held something in it, a potion of some type, but when he tried to decipher what it was, the heat of the fire prevented him from leaning too close.

"You cast a spell," Enola replied. "And let me guess… it used the word 'somehow' in it." Chris nodded assent, and Enola continued, "Spells are tricky. Magic can interpret them in different ways. Some words… like somehow, any way, however possible, at all, and necessary… give the magic free reign to do what it wants to answer the plea. In your case, it took you out of the time you were in, it took me out of the time I was in, and it dumped both of us here." She gestured around the room.

"Okay…" Chris didn't fully understand, but he wasn't sure there was any way she could explain it that would have the situation make sense to him. "So… does that mean you are here to help me?"

"I'm here to fulfill the spell," Enola answered. "Whether that helps you or not, I really don't know." She reached behind her and pulled out a small wooden cup. Sticking her hand into the fire, she scooped up some of the potion and handed the cup to Chris. "Drink."

"How do I know it isn't poison?" Chris demanded suspiciously.

"You really don't," Enola answered bluntly.

Chris hesitated, but then took the cup and held it in his hands. After a moment of staring at the dark liquid, he tipped his head back and swallowed it all in one gulp. Everything around him seemed to slip forward on its axis, then he found himself falling through blackness before landing with a thud on the floor of the Manor.

He was dimly aware of voices and the sound of fighting. Pulling himself to his feet, he saw Bianca struggling against three demons. She had managed to send one of them flying backwards with a well aimed kick to the chest, and flipped another to the ground. But the third rose behind her, an athame clutched tightly in his fist, prepared to stab her while her back was turned.

"No!" Chris shouted, waving a hand and pushing the demon to the floor. Bianca whipped around to face her new attacker at the same time that the first two demons fired energy balls at Chris, and he was unable to avoid the deadly weapons. They slammed into his chest, and he felt a burning pain crawling across his skin before the world around him faded to black and he collapsed forward onto the floor in front of Enola's fire.

"Not bad for your first try," Enola said simply.

"What do you mean? Those demons could have killed me! You sent me to my death," Chris snarled.

Enola rolled her eyes. "If I meant to kill you, Christopher, I would have done that already." She raised the cup to him again, holding the dark potion tantalizingly under his nose. "You need to let go of your fears and focus only on your hopes."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Chris asked, refusing to take the potion until he had more answers.

Enola raised an eyebrow. "You want answers, but you let your fears cloud your ability to move forward."

Chris folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. "Leo said that this couldn't be fixed by magic. Why should I trust you?"

Enola smirked and answered, "Because contrary to popular belief, Elders don't actually know everything." She held out the cup again. "Drink."

Chris took it, and drank.

Again, he fell forward, landing on the floor in the sunroom of the attic. He rose to his feet, watching as Bianca battled the three demons. He walked forward, trying his best to ignore the fight, trusting that she would be able to take care of herself. As he moved towards the kitchen, he saw a portal before him, a shimmering blue and silver mist that separated him from the other side of the room.

Behind him, Bianca flipped the second demon to the floor. The third demon rose, shoving the athame into her back, and she let out a whimper of pain before falling to her hands and knees on the floor.

Chris, unable to bear watching her in pain, turned away from the portal and telekinetically flung the demons away from Bianca. Two of the demons flew through the air and smashed into the far wall, toppling the furniture. The third dove to the side, avoiding the telekinetic attack and throwing an energy ball at Chris at the same time. The witch-lighter felt the impact of the energy crackling against his skin, then he slammed forward onto floor.

He lifted his eyes to find Enola watching him through the flames.

"You keep this up, and your quest for answers will kill you," she berated.

Chris crawled to a sitting position. His chest was beginning to hurt and his vision blurred slightly. "What are you doing to me?" he spat.

"Nothing you aren't already doing to yourself," Enola replied cryptically.

Chris groaned. His head hurt too much to try to understand her words. "What did you mean when you said that the Elders didn't know everything?"

Enola shrugged. "Leo thinks that if he can't heal you, then this must not be something that can be healed by magic." She carefully ladled another cupful of the potion as she continued explaining, "But it doesn't always work like that. Maybe Leo couldn't heal you because fate wasn't ready for you to have the answers yet. Maybe there was something you or someone else needed to learn from this before you could regain your memories." She held out the cup. "And maybe this vision quest will help you learn something."

Chris took the cup. "I can't let Bianca die," he said. "I want the answers, but I can't just ignore her."

"You don't really have a choice," Enola countered. Then she frowned and corrected her earlier words. "No, you do have a choice. But you can't chose both. You can either protect Bianca or you can find your answers." Chris seemed upset by this, so she added gently, "It's not easy, Chris, but that's just the way it is. How important is this to you? Is it worth risking Bianca's life?"

Chris didn't answer. He didn't know what to say. He loved Bianca, even if he didn't remember her. He didn't want to walk by her and let the demons win. But he needed these answers. He knew that something was happening, that both his fiancée and his brother were hiding the truth from him. Was it more important to find that truth or to save his love? How could he even make that decision?

But slowly, ever so slowly, he raised the cup to his lips, and drank.

This time, when he landed on the floor of the Manor's sunroom, he did not even look at Bianca. He rose and walked swiftly towards the portal, ignoring the fight. He heard her whimper, knew that she had fallen to the ground, but he kept walking forward, his eyes trained on the silver and blue.

He stepped into the mist, passed through it, and found himself in the Underworld. Wyatt was standing in the center of a large cave, glaring at the three prisoners in front of them. They were all African American, and by the looks of it, they were family. The father was being held tightly by two demons who grasped his arms. He was struggling violently, his eyes filled with fury and disgust. Next to him, his wife stood perfectly still. She, too, was being held by demons, but her eyes were not on Wyatt. Rather, she was looking at the third, a man a few years older than Wyatt, and probably her son. The young man was being held by three demons who were clearly struggling to keep him in place.

"Did you really think I wouldn't find you?" Wyatt demanded with a sneer.

"Why are you doing this, Wyatt?" the woman asked. "This isn't what your parents would have wanted."

"My parents, darling _Aunt_ Shelia, are dead," Wyatt remarked coldly.

"They're still watching over you," Shelia murmured. "Please, you can still stop this now. It isn't too late to come back to us."

The young man broke from off his demon captors at that point and pulled out a potion which he threw at Wyatt. The blonde witch raised his hand carelessly, and the potion bottle froze in midair. He wiggled his fingers, causing the potion to burst into flames. Then he stared at the boy for a moment, a cruel sneer spreading across his face.

"Feisty, Michael," he snarled. "Impressive. I didn't think you had it in you."

The young man called Michael glared viciously and said, "I have a lot more in me than you ever realized, Wyatt."

"Michael!" Shelia hissed.

"What's the matter, Mom? Can't you see he's never coming back to our side. He's evil, and it is our job to vanquish him."

"He isn't evil," the older man who had not yet spoken said, breaking his silence.

"You're right, Daryl, I'm not," Wyatt agreed. "There is no such thing as Good and Evil. Just power, and those to weak to seek it." He advanced slowly on Michael, gesturing for the demons to move back. They stepped away from Daryl and Shelia as well, giving him full reign to do whatever he wanted. "But you've killed too many of my demons, Michael. You're starting to become an inconvenience, and I don't need that."

"Wyatt, please, leave him alone," Shelia begged, stepping between her son and Wyatt. "Don't hurt him."

"Touching, Shelia," Wyatt spat. Then he raised his hand, closing it into a fist, and Michael began to gasp for breath as his airways closed. "But why should I spare him?"

"We're practically your family, Wyatt!" Shelia cried.

At the same moment, Daryl threw himself forward, tackling Wyatt to the ground. The Twice Blessed was clearly surprised by this, and it took him a moment to shove Daryl away from him. The demons all moved forward, prepared to join the battle if Wyatt called for help, but the witch didn't need their assistance. He sent a low-voltage energy ball at Daryl, burning his shoulder and causing him to collapse to the ground.

"Dad!" Michael cried. He pulled another potion from his pocket and threw it at Wyatt. Wyatt waved his hand, causing the potion to burst into flames, then he flung an energy ball towards his opponent. Shelia, seeing the danger Michael was in, jumped into the path of the weapon, letting it hit her in the chest. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out, and she crumpled into a heap on the ground, a large burn on the center of her chest.

"Mom!"

"Shelia!"

Daryl and Michael rushed to her side, but it was too late. Her eyes glazed over and closed. Michael looked up at Wyatt, his eyes filled with rage. "Murderer!" he snarled, drawing an athame from his pocket and attacking Wyatt viciously. The witch fought back, easily gaining the upper-hand. He caught Michael's wrist, twisting it and forcing him to drop the athame.

"Let him go!" Daryl demanded, rising to his feet.

"Yes, Wyatt," a voice said. "Let him go."

Several people suddenly appeared in a shower of orbs. They spread out suddenly, beginning to fight furiously. One of the men ran forward, dropping to his knees by Shelia and extending his arm. When no healing glow appeared, he looked up at Daryl, grief etched onto his face.

But Daryl had turned his attention from his dead wife to Michael, who was lying on the floor, having been kicked in the back by Wyatt. Two of the rescuers had rushed over to him, but Wyatt raised a hand and sent a blast of energy towards them, knocking all three back into the far wall. They heard the audible snap of Michael's neck as his head hit the stone, then he fell to the floor, and did not rise again.

The scene faded away, and Chris blinked and looked around. He was standing in Wyatt's apartment. The clock on the far wall said 7:47am. He had cast the spell at 7:46am. He had been gone for so long, and yet only a single minute had passed here. How was that even possible?

And then he remembered Enola's words, remembered that the spell had somehow pulled him outside of time.

The spell… He had received answers, but where they answers he wanted? How could Wyatt so cruelly kill someone like that? Or were Daryl, Shelia, and Michael demons? Were they evil? But Wyatt had seemed so cold, so cruel, so… different.

What did it all mean?

"Hey, Chris, you're up early," Wyatt remarked, walking into the room and giving his brother a smile. He paused when he saw the paleness of Chris' skin, the wide-eyed stare. "You okay, little bro? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Chris swallowed. "I'm fine, Wy," he said, attempting a smile. Whatever was going on, he couldn't tell Wyatt his suspicions. He couldn't trust either Bianca or Wyatt with this. He was truly on his own.

* * *

_Underworld, 2025_

"Let me get this straight," Bianca said, a sardonic smile curving her lips as she stared at Cole. "You want me to risk my life and my safety to save Chris from Wyatt, and you have nothing to offer me as insurance that Chris won't get hurt in the process?" She rolled her pretty eyes and shook her head. "You're going to have to do better than that."

Cole grimaced as he watched her. He'd been trying to find her since his talk with Lavinia, but the Phoenix had proven elusive. Although she had left the relative safety of Wyatt's apartment several times, she'd evaded Cole every time he tried to find her. He'd finally thrown all caution to the wind and summoned her, a trick that was difficult to carry off as she was a powerful witch in her own right. Worried that she might simply shimmer away once he had brought her here, he'd also implemented a cage around the entire cave. Because they both had the ability to shimmer, raising the cave meant that he would not be able to leave either. But it had been worth the risk, she was their only hope at the moment.

Of course, she hadn't responded well to his summons or his request. The assassin witch had never been particularly pleasant company, but now that she had embraced Wyatt's rule and practically sold her own soul in order to save Chris, she was unpredictable and dangerous. She'd already tried to vanquish him twice, and he'd only barely managed to evade her more recent energy ball attack.

"We could set up a time ban…" Cole began again, but Bianca cut him off.

"And prevent Chris from ever coming back here? The whole point of this mission of his was so that he could save the world and then return to this time and enjoy the fruits of his efforts. That won't work if he's stuck in the past, growing old in a time he doesn't even belong in."

"I spoke to Lavinia, and she thinks it is possible to set up a time ban so that only Wyatt would not be able to come after Chris, but Chris could still come back to this time," Cole said gently, hoping his words would soften Bianca.

They didn't. "First of all, Wyatt's not the real threat. It's unlikely he would ever go back himself, it is far too dangerous to leave his throne here unoccupied. But he will send demons back to kill Chris, and that is not acceptable. Secondly, Lavinia doesn't do anything for free. Which begs the question, what did you offer her in return?"

"We can extend the entire ban so that it prevents anyone from this time returning to the past, but Chris would still be able to come to the present," Cole argued. "And Lavinia has named a price, but it is just something the Charmed Ones need to do, so you don't need to worry about it."

"Right," Bianca drawled. "I don't need to worry about it?" She looked at him skeptically, then said, "What did she ask for, and did the Charmed Ones really agree to it?"

Cole hesitated. It was no use to lie to her, she would be able to see through it in a heartbeat. And she certainly wouldn't help him if she felt he wasn't being completely truthful with her. He sighed and said, "She wants the Charmed Ones to not vanquish Orexio. And I haven't spoken to the Charmed Ones yet, but they will agree to the plan."

"You don't know that," Bianca snapped coldly.

"Look, if they don't agree to it, I'll just tell them that Chris is Piper's son. If they know he's family…"

"They won't trust you, they won't trust me, and they'll refuse to listen to any of your reasoning," Bianca sneered. "They'll try to find another way, and it will just end up getting us all killed. Try again, Cole, because that plan just isn't good enough."

"I liked you better before Wyatt turned you," Cole remarked casually.

Bianca was at his side in a flash, slamming him against the wall of the cave. His head snapped backwards, hitting the stone, and stars burst into his vision. She had an athame pressed tightly against his throat, and he could feel the cold metal biting his skin. He wondered if she was drawing blood.

"You abandoned me," Bianca snarled, her face twisted with rage. "You, Daryl, Greg… did any of you even try to convince Melinda that she was wrong, or did you decide just to cut your losses? It was too much to argue with her, Henry, Max, and everyone else who was against me from the beginning."

"Bianca…"

She slammed his arm into his throat, effectively cutting off his ability to speak. He gasped for breath, his windpipes bruised by her vicious assault.

"You don't have a clue what Wyatt can do, and I've spent the better part of three years keeping him away from all of you. Do you think he was happy all the times I 'failed' to complete a mission? Do you think he never suspected me a betraying him? Do you have any idea what this was like for me while the rest of you hid behind your protective spells?"

She pulled away from him, and he stumbled and leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. Coughing and chocking, he managed to say, "People died…"

Bianca crossed her arms over her chest. "I walked into the lion's den time and time again. Death would have been preferable."

Cole rubbed his bruised throat. "You know I could never have convinced Melinda to change her mind," he argued.

"You could have," Bianca said quietly, "if you had just tried harder."

"You didn't try to convince her to let you stay either," Cole pointed out, watching her warily. He took a few steps away from her, praying she wouldn't attack him. She watched him with a piercing gaze, but made no move in his direction, and he continued, "You gave up as well."

"I didn't give up," Bianca whispered. "I argued with her, and then she threatened to turn me over to Wyatt herself. When I had to leave the Resistance, I ran and I hid, but it wasn't enough. When Wyatt had me, I held out for weeks. In case you've forgotten, that it quite a bit longer than anyone else ever has."

Cole had to accept the truth of her words. The times that Wyatt had managed to capture members of the Resistance alive, he had broken them in less than a day. The fact that Bianca had held out for weeks was a testament to how much she loved Chris and far she was willing to go to keep him alive and safe.

"Wyatt has turned you and Chris into his allies," Cole said finally. "Is this really what you want? It certainly isn't what Chris would have wanted." He paused, then, pressing his luck, he ventured, "Chris' dream… that you did give up on."

"I didn't give up," Bianca said softly. "I just… I'm just hoping we can find another way." Her anger seemed to fade, and she looked away, crestfallen and hurt.

Cole sighed. Chris would never be able to kill baby Wyatt, even if it meant saving the world. Bianca would never be able to leave Chris in danger, even if it meant saving the world. They never seemed to see anything past their own fear and desires, and it was a problem that afflicted everyone in the Halliwell family. None of them ever realized how important saving the world was.

But for all the times he grew annoyed at the Halliwells' insistence that there was no bigger picture than their family, he could see now how strong it made them all. It gave Chris the strength to endure his family's distrust, it gave Bianca the determination to hold out against Wyatt. If he could just convince her that there was a way to succeed at this, she would bring Chris to him.

"I'll talk to the Charmed Ones," Cole said, waving his hand and deactivating the cave. "We will find a way to return Chris to the past and keep him safe. Will you help us then?"

Bianca gave him a long stare. "Maybe," she said at last. "But don't hold your breath."

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

"Absolutely not!"

"This really isn't your decision, Melinda."

"You can't possibly think that allowing that demon to live will solve anything? It could ruin this future."

"If we can return Chris to the past, this future won't matter."

"Or you just want to ensure that another demon lives. Planning to join forces with him, Balthazar?"

"Do you ever stop to listen to anyone else? Or are you always so damn sure that you know what is best?"

The raised voices greeted the three sisters and Greg as they wandered into the small kitchen area. Melinda was standing in front of the stove, arguing furiously with Cole. A man that they recognized as Max watched the argument from his place leaning against the opposite wall. Rhodin and two white-lighters listened as well, worry and displeasure evident on their faces.

Melinda stopped speaking as she saw Greg enter. Behind him, Piper and Phoebe were watching her with open curiosity, while Paige was staring at Cole with mistrust.

Cole glanced at the sisters, then looked back at Melinda.

"You agree that we need to rescue Chris?" he asked calmly.

"Yes, but…"

"And that as he is currently in Wyatt's lair and with no memories of who he is, the only person who can get close enough to him to bring him to us would be Bianca?"

"True, but she isn't trustworthy and…"

"And the terms Bianca has given us are that she will only help if we can guarantee Chris' safety?"

"Yes, but that…"

"And the only way to do that is to place a time ban preventing anyone from returning to Chris' time? And Lavinia is the only one who knows how to do that, and she has given her terms as well?"

"Cole!"

"Do you agree with all that?" Cole practically snarled.

Melinda placed her hands on her hips. "So what?" she asked angrily. "We just let Orexio live? He destroys the Underworld, or worse, joins forces with Wyatt? How does that help?"

"We don't have any other choice!" Cole said firmly.

"Isn't Lavinia the seer that Leo told us about?" Paige asked Piper, breaking the tense silence that had fallen. Melinda glanced over at the youngest Charmed One, but said nothing. Cole didn't even bother acknowledging their presence, and Piper gave a slight shrug as a reply.

"I agree with Melinda," Max said, stepping towards the younger witch and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"What a surprise," Cole muttered sarcastically, and Max and Melinda sent him identical glares.

"Vanquishing Orexio was one of the best things the sisters ever did. It is just as important as their defeat of the Triad or the Source," Max continued.

"Actually, technically, I was the one that killed the Triad," Cole announced.

"You know, I really don't think this is the time for debates over who gets credit for the vanquishes," Rhodin said, his tone mildly reprimanding.

"What's going on?" Piper asked curiously.

"We can save Chris," Cole said, "but only if you three agree not to vanquish Orexio when you return to your own time."

"Why would we make that promise?" Paige asked incredulously. "He's a demon. He tried to kill us."

"If you don't, you won't be able to save Chris," Cole countered.

"So?" Piper demanded bitterly.

Both Cole and Melinda flinched at her harsh comment. Phoebe noticed this and found it odd, but before she had a chance to comment on it, Cole was speaking again.

"Look, all we have to do is let this one demon live and we can save the world. Lavinia can help us erect a ban that would prevent anyone from this future from traveling to the past. The ban would disappear once Chris has the chance to find the evil after Wyatt and kill it because then this future will be erased. It isn't that difficult…"

"Except that we have to let a very powerful demon go unvanquished," Melinda hissed. She shook her head and said, "I won't agree to this. And I will make sure that the council doesn't either." Without another word, she turned on her heel and stormed from the room.


	12. In Everything But Name

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Twelve: In Everything But Name

_Wyatt's Apartment, 2025_

"I can tell something is bothering you," Wyatt said idly, stepping through the doorway into the bedroom. He glanced quickly at Chris, who was sitting hunched on his bed, then looked away. "Are you going to tell me, or should we play twenty questions?"

Chris forced a smile and said, "I'm fine, Wyatt."

Wyatt rolled his eyes and crossed the room towards Chris, flopping down onto the bed by his side. He smacked Chris lightly on the arm and said, "Even if my empathy powers didn't work so incredibly well, I still wouldn't believe you."

"Empathy?" Chris asked curiously. "That's… Phoebe had that, didn't she?"

"Yes," Wyatt answered, clearly wondering why his brother was reminiscing about the powers of their dead Aunt. "One of the many things I inherited from her." He smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. He could not deny how difficult it was to keep up pretenses with Chris. He had to play the kind and considerate brother, and it was a role he had not been forced to fill in a very long time.

But, he consoled himself, once he had managed to bring Chris completely around to his way of thinking, he would no longer have to continue this charade.

"Wyatt?" Chris questioned, his words hesitant and diffident. "Who's Daryl?"

Wyatt paused, shocked by the question. He quickly recovered and said calmly, "Daryl Morris? He was a friend of Mom's."

"Was?" Chris muttered, noting the use of the past tense. Wyatt shrugged, and Chris pressed, "What happened to him?"

"He joined the Resistance," Wyatt said simply. "He deluded himself into thinking he could save the world."

"Is he dead?"

Wyatt shook his head. "No, he's not. He and one of his sons are still alive."

"And the other son? His wife?"

Wyatt gave Chris a long, searching look, as though trying to find something in his face. Then he said softly, "They didn't survive this world. They couldn't see the truth for what it was. They were too stuck in their own naïve ideas, and it killed them."

"_How can you, Wyatt?" Chris cried angrily, staring at his brother as though he had never truly seen him before. "How can you do all this?"_

_Wyatt folded his arms over his chest and stared around the sunroom defiantly. "I'm turning this into a museum, Chris," he said angrily. "End of story."_

"_This isn't a decision you get to make," Chris hissed. "This is my home, too."_

_Wyatt ran a hand through his hair, his face taking on an expression of annoyed exasperation. "I know it is, Chris, but in case you've forgotten, as the oldest, it is my job to take care of you."_

"_And how does turning our home into a place for people to gawk at us like we're all freaks actually help?" Chris asked pointedly._

"_It reminds the world of the power from which we came, and that which we posses," Wyatt replied. He rested one hand on the sofa that was placed conveniently between him and his younger brother. "Can't you see, Chris, that this is for the best?"_

"_Mom and the aunts didn't think that," Chris retorted._

_Wyatt sighed. "They were too blinded by their own ideas. They couldn't see the truth for what it really was."_

"Chris?" Wyatt nudged his brother, unnerved by the sudden blankness in his eyes. "Earth to Chris? You in there?"

Chris shook his head and stood up quickly, stepping away from Wyatt. He walked over to the window and stared out of it. Unlike the rest of the apartment, this window looked out towards the ocean, and he couldn't see the city. He wondered idly if the apartment had been built like that for a reason, if Wyatt was attempting to keep him from seeing the outside.

After all, he had not set foot in the actual city even once since his return to this time.

"Chris, you're starting to scare me,' Wyatt joked, watching his brother carefully.

"We were arguing," Chris said softly. "You wanted to turn our home into a museum." He looked at Wyatt for a moment, studying his brother's features. Wyatt looked so much like his father, from the blonde hair and blue eyes to his towering stature. There was almost no Piper in him.

"You had a flash, a memory," Wyatt said, his voice betraying no emotion. His face was unreadable.

"They happen randomly," Chris answered, wondering if it was fear he saw flickering through his brother's eyes, or just his overactive imagination playing tricks on him. Why would his brother be concerned about him remembering things?

"We argued a lot about turning our home into a museum," Wyatt said finally. "Needless to say, we both had very different points of view."

"Why did you do it?" Chris asked.

Wyatt hesitated, unsure how to respond. Finally, he said, "Chris, I've already had this argument with you. Many times. And if you get your memories back, you'll know all of it anyway."

"When," Chris corrected.

"What?"

"You said 'if I get my memories back.' It isn't a question of if, it's a question of _when_. I'm going to get them back."

"Okay," Wyatt agreed, sending the strange mood Chris was in. "I mean, of course you're going to get them back eventually. We'll make sure that you do."

"I want to go out into the city," Chris said abruptly, changing the subject and walked back to the bed. He sat down next to Wyatt, pulling his legs into his chest again and giving Wyatt a questioning look.

"I don't think it is a good idea to go out into the city right now," Wyatt said, adopting a protective tone. "You don't remember enough about it, and it just isn't that safe. I mean… with the witch hunters and everything…"

"You could come with me," Chris offered. "You'd keep us both safe."

Wyatt grimaced inwardly. Although the idea of spending time bringing his brother around to his point of view was tempting, it would undo much of the work he had put into presenting a façade of stern rule. If the witch hunters, Resistance members, and demons were to hear that he had spent a day babysitting his younger brother… They would see him as weak and foolish, and they would no longer fear him. He needed their fear, it was the only way he survived this world.

"Um…" Wyatt rose to his feet. "I have a few things I need to take care of today, so…"

"You're keeping me a prisoner in my own house?" Chris asked, his voice slightly accusing.

Wyatt shook his head emphatically. "No, Chris, I'm not. I just don't want anything to happen to you. Is that so wrong of me?"

_Chris, five years old and mischievous, stood outside his parents room and listened to the rise and fall of Piper's angry voice, to Leo's gently answering baritone._

"_Leo, you missed dinner, _again_. It was a big day for Chris, it was his first day of kindergarten. He didn't even get to talk to you about it."_

"_I'm here now, Piper. He can talk to me now."_

"_That doesn't make up for missing dinner. He wanted you there. We all wanted you there."_

"_I know, and I would have been there if I could. But demons attached one of my charges, and I had to take care of that. I couldn't just abandon them."_

"_And that took all night?"_

"_I did some research to figure out who the demons that attacked were. They're a powerful clan on the rise, and I think they'll be a real threat in the near future. I spoke to the Elders, we're trying to figure out if they have a game plan and…"_

"_Leo, that doesn't matter to me right now. _Chris_ matters!"_

"_These demons will attack you, Wyatt, and Chris. They want power, and to get it, they will need to prove they can take on the Charmed Ones. Piper, I'm just trying to stay one step ahead of them so that I can keep you all safe. I don't want anything to happen to you three. Is that really so wrong?"_

"What did you see this time?" Wyatt asked warily as Chris came out of the vision.

"Piper and Leo, arguing," Chris said softly, his tone disappointed. "Leo missed an important dinner."

Wyatt nodded sympathetically. Leo missed a lot of diners while they were growing up. He missed school plays and soccer games and birthdays. He was doing his best to keep Good in power and Evil contained in the Underworld. And it had dragged him away from his wife and his children, his friends, and eventually even cost him his life. It was Leo's death that first caused Wyatt to wonder if Good and Evil really existed. How could something that was Good allow Leo to lose everything like that?

Piper's death four years later was the final blow, and after that he did not believe in the Elders or their ridiculous ideals.

Wyatt reached out and placed a hand on Chris' shoulders. "He never wanted to miss family dinners," he said firmly. "He never wanted to leave us."

Chris offered a watery smile, and wondered if that was true.

"Why don't you ask Bianca if she'll go into the city with you?" Wyatt suggested. "She can keep you safe, and we can talk more when you get back and I finish up my chores for the day."

Chris considered this suggestion, then gave a true smile. "I'll do that," he said.

Wyatt left the room and orbed down to the kitchen. Once there, he closed his eyes and called telepathically for Bianca. She appeared slowly, shimmering in reluctantly as though she did not particularly want to deal with Wyatt right now.

"Chris is going to ask you to accompany him into the city today," Wyatt said quickly. "Make sure he stays safe, and keep him away from anything that could trigger a memory we don't want him to have."

Bianca shrugged, a smirk playing on her lips. "I can't keep him from what he is fated to remember," she answered casually.

Wyatt narrowed his eyes, his voice becoming deathly quiet as he asked dangerously, "Do I need to remind you which of us is in charge?"

Bianca's eyes widened slightly at the veiled threat, but that was the only physical sign of fear that she showed. Wyatt had to grudgingly admit that she was much braver than he had originally given her credit for. The tone of voice he used often caused even the fiercest demons to cringe and cower in fear.

Or, he considered, she wasn't really that brave, she was simply in love with Chris, and it made her do stupid things. His mother always said that love was what made the side of Good so strong, but he reflected silently that it was also love that allowed good people to be so easily manipulated and controlled. For all the strength it might confer, it was still a weakness.

"I will send a demon to follow you unseen by Chris," Wyatt decided. "Zankou." Bianca shivered, they all knew the incredible power that demon possessed. "He will have orders to make sure that my instructions are followed. If you cross me, Zankou will kill you immediately. And if you turn Chris against me, Zankou will kill him. Is that clear?"

Bianca swallowed. Both she and Wyatt knew that she would not take the risk of having to face Zankou in combat. She was good, but he was so much better.

"It's clear," Bianca answered.

Wyatt's threats were always clear.

* * *

_Resistance Council Chambers, 2025_

The room was filled with noise. All three walls were lined with people, and a few even stood in front of the windows, blocking the view of the glade and the waterfall. That chairs around the table were completely filled. Some of the council members were forced to stand, not having enough chairs to seat them all. They, too, gathered, directly behind the chairs.

A thousand side conversations reverberated through the air, and Piper could barely manage to keep them all straight in her mind. Next to her, Daryl was debating with a nymph she did not know, and a few feet beyond them, Greg was gesturing wildly with his hands, trying to convince two witches of something. Cole and Melinda were arguing, and Melinda was supported by Max and Tyler. D.J. had opted to come to the meeting as well, and although he was sitting with one hand wrapped around his stomach and chest where the wound had been, he still had the energy to talk rapidly with a dwarf.

Only Rhodin seemed unperturbed by the commotion around him. He sat, a clam expression on his face, his eyes fixed on the far doors. When he was satisfied that everyone necessary had joined them, he rose to his feet and spread his hands. "Silence!" he called, and the room fell into a moody and irritable quiet. Then he nodded to Cole. "You may begin," he said, his voice laced with distrust.

As the others clambered back into their seats, Cole crossed his arms over his chest and said, "We have discovered a way to safely remove Chris from Wyatt's influence. To do so, however, would require Bianca's help, and she will only agree to any plan so long as it provides for a time ban to keep Wyatt from sending assassins after Chris again. Lavinia will help us, for a price."

Melinda said waspishly, "So you want us to work with an assassin witch and a demonic seer? How do we know either of them are trustworthy?"

Cole pursed his lips. "Lavinia does not break her promises," he said firmly, "and Bianca would not do anything to endanger Chris' life."

"She brought him here, didn't she?" Rhodin pointed out dryly.

"To save him, not to have him killed," Cole countered.

"And I suppose this is just something we should take your word for?" Max sneered. "How do we know it isn't a trap?"

Cole raised one eyebrow and asked quietly, "In all the years that this Resistance has been formed, have I ever lead you into a trap?" A silence greeted his statement, a recognition of the truth in his words. Satisfied, Cole turned his attention to the three Charmed Ones. "You would need to agree not to vanquish Orexio. I presume you know who he is?"

Piper nodded. "We know who he is, and we won't agree to it." Next to her, both Paige and Phoebe nodded as well, their expressions fierce and determined.

Cole sighed. He looked over at Melinda, who was wearing a look of triumph, and at Henry, who was more difficult to read. The young witch-lighter clearly did not trust Cole, Lavinia, or Bianca, but his expression was not so obvious. Rather, his face was stony and cold, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"We have no other way to save Chris," Cole said finally. "If someone has another plan, I would be more than happy to hear it…"

When there was no response, Daryl said, "I agree with Cole. Obviously, we need to save Chris before anything bad happens to him. And I can't think of any other plans, so we really don't have a choice."

"Nothing bad is going to happen to Chris," Max muttered. "Wyatt won't hurt him, especially if Chris is on his side."

"And what happens when Chris gets his memories back?" Greg asked sharply. "What happens when he isn't on Wyatt's side anymore?"

"Oh, did Bianca not have a plan for that to?" Melinda asked sardonically.

"Bianca would never have been in this position if you hadn't have forced her out," Cole said angrily. After his conversation with Bianca, he was feeling extraordinarily guilty for not having been able to convince Melinda to change her mind. Was it true that he just hadn't tried hard enough? Would he have been able to save them all this trouble if he hadn't given up so quickly?

"How many times is someone going to have to tell you that she is a threat before you open your eyes and realize the truth?" a woman that the Charmed Ones did not recognize asked bitterly.

Cole ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "Talia, I know you have a history with the Phoenixes, but Bianca wasn't the one who killed your parents."

"No, but her family did," Talia snapped.

"And Melinda's family is currently trying to take over the world, but I don't see any of you saying that she is evil!" Cole hissed, his anger causing him to forget that he was trying to keep Melinda's identity a secret from the three time travelers in the room.

"That's different," Melinda argued, but Cole cut her off.

"Why? Because you want it to be different? Open your eyes to the reality of the situation. People's morality isn't determined by their family history. Wyatt is living proof of that!"

"What do you know of morality, Balthazar?" Melinda sneered.

"Melinda, please…" Henry murmured, placing a hand on his cousin's arm.

But Melinda shook off his hand and rose, glaring daggers at Cole. "Did you really think we would ever welcome a demon here? For God's sakes, you've been the Source!"

"I was _possessed_ by the Source," Cole retorted.

"You went crazy and tried to erase Paige," Melinda continued, ignoring his comment. "God only knows how many times you tried to kill them," she spat, gesturing wildly towards the Charmed Ones.

Murmurs began to run through the crowd, voices rising slightly, adding accusations to the list. Cole listened to the whispers, gradually growing into cries, as the others around him brought up all the worst parts of his life.

"How many witches did you kill, Balthazar?"

"Isn't there some story about how you poisoned Phoebe with demonic spawn to make her the Queen of the Underworld?"

"What about when you tried to take the Nexus?"

"You're a demon. You're evil. End of story."

But Melinda's voice rose over it all, "Why should we believe that this isn't just some twisted plot of yours to bring Orexio back to life so that you two can join forces?"

Cole stared at Melinda, at the fury in her eyes, at the simmering anger in her sneer. How did Phoebe, the love of his life, create someone so hardened, so angry, so cold? Or was it something he could blame Melinda's father for?

Unbidden, Lavinia's words from several days ago played through his mind.

_Information is power, Cole. And that is a little bit of information for you, something that might serve you well in the future. You still are their family, whether you admit it or not._

And before he could think through the consequences of what he was doing, Cole had already started to speak. "Prudence Melinda Halliwell," he said firmly, strongly, "you will listen to me!"

He heard the sharp intakes of breath from Phoebe, Piper, and Paige. He didn't have time to waste on their concerns, however, and he didn't even glance in their direction.

"You have no right to tell me what to do," Melinda rejoined, as she too avoided looking at the Charmed Ones.

"I have every right," Cole answered. "I am your family!"

"In case you've forgotten," Melina shot back, "my mother didn't choose you!"

If there had been any doubt about who's daughter she was, those words completely cleared up the confusion. Phoebe looked between Cole and Melinda, shocked to find she had a daughter, scared that Cole considered himself part of their family, and relieved that she had not ended up married to him again.

"In case _you've_ forgotten," Cole said viciously, "it wasn't your father who rescued you from demons when you were kidnapped on your sixth birthday. In case you've forgotten, it wasn't your father who comforted you after your mother died, it wasn't your father who sat with you in the middle of the night to keep you safe from the monsters under the bed, it wasn't your father who provided food, clothing, and shelter for you when the last of your family was gone. In case you've forgotten, Melinda, it was _me_."

"My father…"

"Fell apart the moment your mother died. Your father left you and Patience with me because he couldn't handle it. You father walked out on you and I was the one who held this family together while you all tried to cope with the Charmed Ones' deaths. I am your family, Melinda, in everything but name!"

"What?" Phoebe demanded, unsure if she was more horrified by the fact that her daughter had been forced to grow up without her or by the fact that her husband had apparently abandoned them all.

"How dare you…?" Melinda snarled, her face completely pale. She was under no delusions about the type of man her father had been, she remembered perfectly well the way he had simply walked away from all of them after her mother's death. But for Cole to actually say the words, and for him to mention Patience…

She shivered, remembering her sister's death at the hands of Wyatt's demons. It had been an accident, Wyatt had said, and he had vanquished every demon who was even remotely related to those that had taken Patience's life. But his actions had not erased the past, had not brought Patience back to life, had not changed the truth; it was Wyatt's fault that Patience was dead.

"When Chris lead this Resistance, all of you understood that the world was filled with shades of gray," Coel continued, now looking at everyone in the room. "When Chris was in charge, we worked together, as a team. We might have had fights, but we did not let our differences divide us like this." Glancing again at Melinda, he said, "And we did not expel people whom we suspected of treachery because we knew that even traitors did not deserve the type of suffering Wyatt would inflict upon them."

Piper and Paige exchanged a look, both wondering silently why Chris was so important, why he was the only one able to keep this entire group together and functioning like a team.

"I promised your mother I would not let anything happen to you," Cole said softly, gently. "I promised her that I would protect you from all harm, even if that harm came from yourself. You might not see the type of person you are turning into, but I do, and I won't let it happen. I lost Patience and Patty and Helen, but I won't lose you. I've broken almost every other important promise I've made, and I'll be damned if I break this one too."

His words were followed by a complete and total silence. Cole looked around the room, meeting the gazes of every single person who stared back at him.

"If we let ourselves continue down the path we have started," Cole murmured, knowing that everyone would still manage to catch his words, "we will lose sight of what is truly important in this world."

And then he shimmered away, and silence was all that was left behind.

"You're my daughter," Phoebe whispered, staring at Melinda with awe.

Melinda impulsively seized Henry's arm, her face a picture of fear and heartbreak, and ordered tersely, "Get me out of here."

Henry complied, and the two of them disappeared in a swirl of orbs, leaving Phoebe to stare at the place her daughter had sat moments before and wonder how everything had gone so wrong.

* * *

_San Francisco Arboretum, 2025_

"What happened here?' Chris asked, aghast, as he took a seat next to Bianca on the stone bench in front of the angel. "I've seen it, in the past, and it doesn't look anything like this."

"There was a fight here," Bianca said, glancing down at the hairline fractures that ran through the bench. "About two years ago. The arboretum bore the brunt of the damage."

Chris looked over at the broken columns, the torn up grass, the first strewn across the ground under their feet. "This is where I proposed," he said.

Bianca seemed startled, but she nodded in agreement. "Yes," she said in an almost inaudible whisper.

"_Will you marry me?"_

"_You're asking me now? Here?"_

"_This is still our spot, Bianca, no matter what He's done to it. Marry me."_

"When I asked you to marry me," Chris said slowly, "I told you that this was our spot, regardless of what _He_ had done to it. Who was this He?"

Bianca looked back at the angel. Zankou was invisible, but her sixth sense told her that he was standing behind the statue, listening to the conversation. She curled one hand into a tight fist, and said to Chris, "Wyatt. He was partially responsible for the fight. You were… unhappy that he had destroyed our spot."

Chris accepted her answer in a thoughtful silence. A few of his memories had suggested that he and Bianca were both afraid of Wyatt, afraid of what he could do. Bianca's original story about the fight between the two brothers and the resulting accidental death of an innocent had answered all the questions that Chris had been able to come up with at the time. But now that he had a chance to reflect on everything he had learned, there was still so much about the scenario that did not make sense.

"Why would I be unhappy? It's not like he chose this spot just to spite me," Chris said. "Right?"

For a moment, Bianca didn't answer. She was looking over his shoulder, but when he turned around, he saw nothing there but empty air. He wondered if she had some magical gift that allowed her to see things that were invisible to him.

"Why don't we keep walking?" Bianca suggested finally.

"So much of the city is destroyed," Chris murmured, registering to himself that the Phoenix had not answered his prior question. "I don't know how much more of it I can see."

"There are some nice places," Bianca answered, turning her gaze back to him. "Especially along the beaches."

"Is the rest of the world like this?" Chris questioned, reluctantly rising.

"Some of it," Bianca replied.

"Well, well, well…what have we here? Witches enjoying a pleasant afternoon?"

Bianca spun around at the sound of the voice, an athame already appearing in one hand. In one fluid movement, she flung the athame with perfect accuracy while grabbing Chris with the other hand and pulling him away from the bench.

Chris could only watch in surprise as a blast of light filled the air, shattering the bench he had been sitting on moments before. Bianca's athame found its target in the chest of the man who had fired the blast, and he stumbled and fell to the ground, coughing up blood. A few pieces of stone from the bench hit Bianca in the stomach, sending her backwards through the air. She groaned, but pulled herself back to her feet, her eyes scanning the area.

"What…?"

"They're witch hunters," Bianca hissed as several other men appeared, surrounding them. "Come on, we need to get out of here."

But Chris, paralyzed in fear, didn't orb. Instead, he watched as two men advanced on him, holding strange looking guns in their hands.

"Chris, orb!" Bianca yelled at him. She couldn't shimmer away until she was sure that Chris was safe, but he didn't appear to be going anywhere. She needed to get to him and shimmer them both away, but before she could do anything, a witch hunter fired another blast at her.

Bianca ducked, threw herself sideways, and rolled back to her feet. She was directly in front of two of the witch hunters now, and she knocked both of them down with a series of rapid punches. Spinning around, she caught sight of Chris being grabbed by another witch hunter, and she quickly flung an energy ball at the man, killing him instantly and freeing Chris.

She shimmered to Chris' side and grabbed his arm. "Come on," she said tersely, "let's go." As she said the words, she caught sight of movement behind one of the marble columns to the left. Zankou, no longer invisible, stepped into the open and gave her a smirk and wink before disappearing into thin air.

Another burst of light, an attack from the witch hunters' strange guns, but Bianca shimmered herself and Chris away before either of them could get hurt.

* * *

_Wyatt's apartment, 2025_

Bianca watched as Chris and Wyatt talked in low voices about the witch hunters. After a moment, she turned and walked into the kitchen. Zankou was standing there, a smug expression on his face.

"Wyatt arranged for the witch hunters to attack, didn't he?" she asked. "He tipped them off, gave them an anonymous heads up that Chris and I would be at the arboretum." She hesitated, then added, "Which means you must have told him where we were."

Zankou shrugged. "Why would Wyatt do that?"

"To make sure Chris was sufficiently afraid of going outside," Bianca answered, although it was a rhetorical question. "To make sure he understood that this is a kill-or-be-killed world."

Zankou didn't confirm her suspicions.

He didn't deny them either.

She sighed and walked from the room.


	13. Careful What You Wish For

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Careful What You Wish For

…careful what you wish for, because you might just get it all…

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

"I told you," Henry said, standing firmly in front of the door to Melinda's room and attempting to glare at the three Charmed Ones, "Melinda doesn't want to see anyone right now."

"Let her tell us that herself," Phoebe requested, trying to remain calm and polite when all she really wanted to do was smack this young man upside the head. He was standing in between her and her daughter, and she was not about to let him dictate who she could and couldn't see.

"She asked me to tell you," Henry said, taking a slow breath. He looked at Phoebe, willing himself to view her as just another witch and not the younger version of a woman who would one day be his aunt. "She might feel up to talking to you later, but right now she just wants to be left alone."

"We need to talk to her," Phoebe begged. "I need to see her, I need to…" She just needed to know that everything was going to be okay, that her daughter was alive and as happy as one could be, given the time in which she lived.

"You can see her later," Henry said through gritted teeth. "After all, you guys aren't going anywhere yet, are you?" They hadn't found a spell or a potion that would take them to the past, at least not one that didn't need to be said over the Nexus.

"Look, kid, I don't know who you think you are," Piper said, deciding to add her opinion to the debate, "but Phoebe is Melinda's _mother_. She has a right to see her daughter if she wants."

"She isn't Melinda's mother yet," Henry said softly. "And she hasn't been a presence in our lives for a very long time." He didn't think over his words before he said them, and was silently thankful that no one seemed to notice his slip-up when he used the words _our lives_.

Phoebe flinched at the reminder of her death and hesitated, suddenly unsure and nervous. "Maybe we should give her some time…"

"Phoebe!" Paige reprimanded, "you can't let him talk you out of seeing your own daughter." She gestured angrily towards Henry.

Henry cringed at her harsh words. He couldn't lose control over his temper, he'd say something stupid or revealing. He'd already done that once before, and it had caused his Aunt Piper to yell at him. He couldn't repeat that.

"She's right," Piper agreed with a little jerking nod of her head. "When Prue, Phoebe, and I went to the past, all of us just wanted to see our mother and Grams again. How do you know Melinda feels any different?"

"Because she told me she felt different," Henry snapped. "She said she doesn't want to see anyone right now."

"Except you?" Paige questioned sarcastically. "What are you, her boyfriend?"

Henry struggled to hide his revolted expression at her words. Fortunately, the look of disgust that washed over his face wasn't noticed as Piper and Phoebe were both looking at Paige with amusedly questioning stares.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time in this family that someone fell for their white-lighter," Paige said pointedly, giving Piper a meaningful glance.

"Yeah, and look how well that turned out," Piper muttered before she could stop herself.

"I'm not her boyfriend," Henry said, drawing the sisters' attention back to himself. "And I don't think Max would appreciate anyone thinking that I am." He turned to Paige and answered her question as honestly as he could. "I'm just a friend of hers. We were really close growing up."

"Growing up?" Piper echoed. "Wait, how long ago did you die?" He was young, only a teenager, but she had assumed that he had died a long time ago. Was he really just a newbie white-lighter assigned to watch over their family? Why would the Elders give them someone without experience? And why would they give them someone who had been a family friend? Didn't that go against the whole idea of preventing the ghost of a loved one from crossing over to the real world until everyone was ready to see each other?

But Phoebe had latched on to a different part of Henry's comment, and she asked in confusion, "Are Max and Melinda dating?"

Henry allowed himself a small smile. "No, but only because Max is too much of a chicken to ask her out," he said. "He's liked her since… well, pretty much since forever. _Everyone_ knows."

"You didn't answer my question," Piper interrupted. "How long have you been a white-lighter? How long has Melinda been your charge?"

Henry paused, thinking. He couldn't answer the first one because he wasn't a true white-lighter. As for the second question… well, he wasn't really Melinda's white-lighter anymore. In fact, nobody actually had specific white-lighters in this time period. They were one of the first groups to die, killed by demons twelve years ago during the attack on the Heavens. Only a few remained, not enough to help every witch who would need it.

Finally, he said, "Melinda isn't my charge. She's just a friend."

"If she's just a friend, then you don't really have any right to tell me that I can't see her," Phoebe said with finality. "Mother trumps friend."

"Shouldn't you be focused on trying to save Chris?" Henry demanded.

"Melinda is slightly more important, don't you think?" Phoebe replied, rolling her eyes at the comment. "Look, we will save Chris, but Melinda is my family and I…"

"No," Henry said tiredly, but still with steel in his voice, "she's not." Phoebe, Piper, and Paige all opened their mouths to argue, but he rushed on, determined to say what he needed to say. "Look, one day she will be your daughter. But she isn't that right now. You aren't her mother, you're really nothing more than a perfect stranger to her. You don't know her favorite food or her favorite color, you haven't spent hours trying to convince her to eat spinach and carrots, you don't know what books you read to her when she would have nightmares in the middle of the night. You aren't her mother yet."

Phoebe looked as though he had slapped her in the face. But, a small voice in her head pointed out unkindly, wasn't everything he said true? Did she really have the right to barge in her and act as though she had any claim to Melinda? She didn't know a thing about the girl.

"It doesn't matter," Paige said quietly. "She might not know any of those yet, but Melinda is still her daughter."

Henry sighed. "I obviously can't change your minds on this one, but Melinda doesn't want you here, so you aren't getting into the room. End of discussion." He turned to go, his hand resting on the doorknob, when he felt the familiar sensation of power washing over him. He turned and looked back at Piper, who had her hands outstretched, having just tried to freeze him.

"Why didn't he freeze?" Phoebe asked.

"Of, for God's sake," Piper cried, dropping her hands. "How many witch-lighters are there around here?"

Henry turned around again, not seeing a point in staying to listen to more of their questions. He wanted to get back to Melinda, to see how she was holding up after Cole's tirade. But again he was stopped, this time by Phoebe's hand on his arm.

"Wait!" Phoebe demanded, grabbing his wrist before he could leave. "You can't just walk…" Whatever else she was going to say was cut off by the sudden stiffness in her body, the surprised expression on her face, the trademark signs of a premonition.

"_Wow… look at him," Phoebe said, holding the baby carefully and beaming at Paige. "Another boy in the family. Looks like his daddy, doesn't he?"_

_Paige, lying in the hospital bed in the maternity ward, nodded eagerly, a huge grin on her face. "Hello, my little Henry," she cooed, reaching out her arms and taking the baby back from her sister. "Welcome to the world."_

"Oh…"

Henry took one look at Phoebe and knew that she had just seen the truth. Not able to stay and face his mother and aunts anymore, he spun around and shoved the door open, slamming it tightly behind him. Then he sunk to the floor, pulling his knees into his chest, and resting his head on his hands.

"Henry?" Melinda hurried from where she was sitting on his bed to her cousin's side. "What's wrong?" She closed her eyes, checking quickly to make sure the anti-orbing spell she put up was still in place. Satisfied that Paige would not be able to surprise them by orbing into the room, she turned her attention back to the shaking boy in front of her.

"They know about me," Henry said dully. "Aunt Phoebe had a premonition."

Melinda wrapped her arms around him. "I'm so sorry," she murmured apologetically. "I shouldn't have asked you to talk to them. It wasn't fair to you."

"You didn't know they would find out," Henry countered. He leaned his head against Melinda's shoulder and stared blankly at the wall opposite them. He kept seeing that looked of stunned surprise on Phoebe's face as she pulled her arm away from him. What would they think now that they knew who he was? Would they hate him for the lying he had done, for the way he had revealed the truth about Wyatt, for pushing them away from Melinda?

"I'm the older one," Melinda said. "I should be protecting you, not the other way around." She looked down, ashamed. "I haven't really done a very good job of that, have I?"

Henry frowned, knowing that she was thinking of Patience, Patty, and Helen. "_That_ wasn't your fault," he said firmly. "You couldn't have saved any of them."

The twins, two years older than him and exactly like their mother in every way, had been killed by witch hunters shortly after the Charmed One's deaths. Just children, and they had been burned at the stake. No one had been able to save them, and Henry, having lost now his mother, father, and sisters, had almost fallen apart. Melinda, Patience, Chris, and Wyatt had held everything together, with the added support of their grandfather and Cole. But bit by bit those people were taken away from them as well, until now it was just him and Melinda.

"I don't want Chris to go back to the past," Henry confided guiltily. "I… we've lost everything. Even Wyatt. And then Chris went back and I…"

Melinda ran a hand through her hair. "He thinks he can save us, save Wyatt," she said. "If there is even the slightest chance…"

"I know. I just…"

Henry didn't finish the sentence, and Melinda gave him a searching stare.

"Do you think Cole was right?" she asked.

"About being family?" Henry questioned. He knew full well what she was actually asking, but he wasn't entirely sure he could have this conversation with her. Was Cole right that she had lost sight of everything worth fighting for in this world? He didn't even know the answer to that, but if she had lost sight of it, then so had he. Chris was the only one who seemed to think that there was a reason to continue this never-ending battle, and ever since their older cousin had gone to the past, they had all started loosing heart.

Melinda gave him a shrewd look and said, "You know perfectly well what I'm asking about."

"I don't know, Mel," Henry answered. "I don't… I don't know. Bianca might have been a threat no matter, but she definitely became one the moment you kicked her out."

"Her family worked for Wyatt," Melinda said softly. "Her family murdered the families of several of our members."

"I know," Henry agreed.

"We originally met her when she was working for Wyatt, trying to infiltrate our organization and kill us."

"I know."

Melinda let out a shaky breath. "She loves Chris."

"I know."

She rose slowly and walked back to the bed. Sitting on the cushion, she faced Henry and asked rhetorically, "Why does everything have to be so complicated?"

Henry shrugged. It was a question he often asked himself. It was a question he was never able to answer.

* * *

_Wyatt's Apartment, 2025_

Chris stood at the window of his bedroom, watching the sunlight glittering on the ocean. His mind was filled with troubled thoughts, and try as he might, he couldn't quite erase the fears that ate away at his stomach. His brush with the witch hunters had been enough to make his sufficiently terrified of the world outside these protective walls. How did witches live day to day in this place?

But even as he thought those thoughts, he couldn't help but wonder how the witch hunters had known he was there, how they had even recognized him. Was his face so well known to them that they were prepared to kill him on sight? He and Bianca had certainly not been displaying any kind of power, but the mortals who attacked had fired without any warning, and it was only Bianca's quick movements that had saved them both.

He leaned his head against the cool glance. Bianca had told him that much of his family was murdered when he was young, only a child. Wyatt had told him that his mother and aunts were killed when he was fourteen. He knew his father had died in the Heavens when he was ten. So how did all these seemingly conflicting pieces of information reconcile with each other?

He wanted to slam his head against the wall. Nothing made sense, and every time he thought of the comforting presence exuded by his brother after the witch hunter's attack, he couldn't help but think of the cold, calculating look in the Twice Blessed's eyes when he had killed Shelia and Michael.

"I want to know," he whispered, raising his eyes towards the ceiling. "I don't care if it is painful and difficult and impossible. I don't care how much in hurts. I need to know who I am. I need to know what is going on. I can't just sit here and do nothing while everyone else plans my life. I _need_ to know."

The answer was silence, a blanket of quiet so still and so complete that Chris could hear his own breath rasping in his longs. He pushed himself away from the wall and began to pace the room. He needed a way out of this. He needed to finally have the answers. He knew that there were so many things he was supposed to do, and he just needed to remember what they were.

He looked up again. "Look, I don't know if there's even anyone up there listening to me. I don't know if I believe in God or angels or any of that. I don't understand what an Elder is, I don't know what their powers are, and I don't know if there are any still alive. But… if you are listening to me… there is something I was meant to do. I don't know what it is, but every fiber in my being is telling me that I was meant to be somewhere else. I don't know if I've ever prayed before, but I'm doing it now. Please… if anyone is listening… help me."

In a split second, the world turned sideways. Then upside-down. Then around and around and around. He was falling downwards, he was tumbling sideways, he was being pulled apart at the seams and put back together.

And then the memories came, rushing like a torrential flood, forcing him to his knees as he gripped his head in pain.

"_Where is Daddy?" a five-year-old Chris asked as he clutched his teddy bear tightly with one hand and glanced around the gathered family. It was Christmas morning, and Wyatt had already happily launched himself into the presents. His Aunt Phoebe was sitting with Melinda on her lap, the young toddler playing eagerly with the large grays stuffed rabbit her father had bought her. Uncle Coop stood in the corner, taking pictures of his wife and daughter, and talking animatedly to Uncle Henry. Uncle Henry was holding one of the newborn twins, and Aunt Paige, seated next to Aunt Phoebe on the sofa, held the other twin. His mother was crouched next to Wyatt on the floor, helping pick out the presents that belonged to the rambunctious blonde child._

"_He'll be here, peanut," Piper said, reaching over and ruffling his hair. "He's just caught up at work."_

_Chris made a face. "He always doin' adult stuff," he pouted. It was true, his father was around a lot less than his mother. He was always running off to take care of some emergency, some charge in trouble or some new threat that was concerning the Elders._

"_He's here now," a voice said, and the bright white orbs filled the room, coalescing into Leo._

_Chris launched himself at his father, crying, "Daddy!" and even Wyatt tore himself away from his toys long enough to echo the sentiment._

_But Piper met Leo's eyes and said in a low undertone, "You're late, Leo."_

"_One of my charges got attacked by a demon and needed to be healed," Leo replied softly. Then, ignoring Piper's angry look, he picked up Chris and swung him around in the air. "How's my little buddy?"_

_break _

"_You're half-demon," Henry said, eyeing Cole curiously. He was holding a six-year-old Chris by the hand, standing protectively in front of the child._

"_So they tell me," Cole replied._

"_You made my Aunt Phoebe cry," Chris said in a high-pitched squeak. "You made Uncle Coop angry."_

"_Yeah," Cole agreed slowly, regretfully. "I did."_

"_That wasn't very nice, mister," Chris said bluntly._

_break _

"_I can't believe Leo would miss this," Piper hissed angrily, leaning over the cookies she was carefully pulling on the cookie sheet. "It's Wyatt's first baseball game of the season. They are finally in the A division and Leo can't even be here!"_

"_Sweetie, calm down," Paige replied gently. "He's not here yet, but that doesn't mean he isn't coming."_

"_We have to leave for the show in fifteen minutes!" Piper pointed out angrily. She narrowed her eyes at Paige just as the younger Charmed One was about to take a cookie. "Those are for Wyatt's fellow teammates," she admonished._

_Paige huffed, but dropped the cookie back onto the plate._

"_You'd better be dead or dying, mister," Piper threatened to the ceiling. "If you're not here in ten minutes, I'm going to kill you, understand?" She had no idea how much those words would haunt her over the next few years._

_Chris, hiding in the doorway, heard the argument. With a frown, the ten-year-old decided that he'd better find his Daddy, because it just wasn't fair for him to have to miss Wyatt's game. With that thought in mind, he concentrated on his father, and orbed._

_The white marble of Up There was filled with scorch marks and running red with blood. Elders slumped over everywhere, their faces fixed in expressions of horror and despair. Chris stood in the center of it all and called out frantically, "Daddy! Daddy!" _

_There was no answer._

_break _

_Wyatt was staring, stone faced and cold, at the grave marker in front of them. Piper stood beside him, tears streaming down her cheeks, silent sobs wracking her body. Paige and Phoebe were attempting to offer as much support as possible, but she was oblivious to their presences, thinking only of the last words she had ever yelled at her husband, thinking of her threat that he had better be down in ten minutes or she would kill him. The words echoed, harsh and jarring, in the silence of her mind._

_Chris stood separate from his mother and brother. He, too, was crying, but his tears were louder. His grandfather tried to comfort him, and in the background, his Uncles Henry and Coop watched with uneasy expressions._

_A woman walked forward. She was dressed in a long robe, a strange garment trimmed with gold and thin silver threads. She stopped directly behind Piper. The eldest Charmed One did not turn around, did not acknowledge the newcomer in any way. She was too caught up in her own grief to face the grief of her husband's colleagues._

"_The attack…" the Elder murmured, "we had no warning. Very few of us survived. I… I wish I could have saved him, Piper."_

_Piper didn't say anything, and the Elder turned and walked away, knowing she was not welcome here._

_The Wyatt stepped forward and dropped a flower onto his father's gravestone. "I'm sorry, Dad," the twelve-year-old blonde said. "I won't let this happen to anyone else. I'll take care of them for you."_

_break _

"_I don't understand," eleven-year-old Chris said, sitting on his bed, staring at his mother. "I don't… I don't understand."_

_Piper, who was barely holding herself together, reached out and tried to pull Chris into a hug. He backed away, shaking his head, staring at her uncomprehendingly. Piper inhaled sharply, then let out the breath and said, "The attack was… sudden. Your Aunt Paige, she…" She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. She was crying again, tears pooling in her eyes._

_Chris let her hug him this time, resting his head on her shoulder._

_break _

"_This is ridiculous," Wyatt said, watching as his mother and Aunt Phoebe tried to hang the Christmas ornaments of the tree. "Why don't you just let me do it for you?"_

"_We'll let you help if you do it without your powers," Piper replied, giving Wyatt a long look. Then she turned her attention away from him and glanced at the window. Both Greg and her father were supposed to come by later in the afternoon to help with the decorations, and she was eagerly awaiting their arrivals._

_Wyatt shook his head and turned to the twelve-year-old Chris. "They've gone insane."_

"_Mom's always been insane," Chris quipped back, and earned himself a playful glare from his mother and aunt. _

_Then Henry walked into the room, his arms laden with presents, Helen and Patty trailing behind him. He looked tired and worn, and his eyes were filled with unfathomable sadness. It was the first Christmas since Paige's death, and her absence left them all feeling as though a gaping void existed in the family._

"_Where's little Henry?" Phoebe asked, referring to Paige's son._

"_Coop is showing him how to make paper airplanes," Henry answered, forcing a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. "He's having a good time."_

"_Mommy?" Melinda called from the stairs. "Where's Grandpa?"_

"_He'll be here soon," Phoebe called back. "Why don't you and Patience come help us decorate? We can have a family-decorating time."_

"_It's not all our family," Wyatt muttered sourly under his breath. "There's some still missing."_

_break _

_Piper placed the plate of eggs in front of Greg and gave him a brief smile. Across from him, thirteen-year-old Chris watched the exchange warily. He knew that his mother really loved this firefighter, and he wanted to be happier for him, but his father was supposed to be the one sitting there, eating eggs in the morning._

"_Thanks, Piper," Greg said. "They look delicious, as always."_

_Chris scowled. "Did you make eggs for Dad when he was still alive?"_

"_Chris!" Piper scolded, staring at him in surprise. Then her expression softened as it always did when she thought of Leo, and she said, "Yes, I did."_

"_So is Greg going to be my new Daddy?" Chris asked bitterly, pushing his bowl of cereal away and standing up. "Should I start telling people that I'm half-witch, half-fireman?" Without waiting for a response, he stormed from the room._

_He had made it through the sunroom when he felt a pair of hands grab his shoulders and spin him around. He expected to find himself staring at his mother, but instead it was Wyatt standing there. He wondered how much of the conversation Wyatt had overheard._

"_Mom loves him," Wyatt snapped. "And he's showed up to more of my baseball games and your school plays than Dad ever did."_

"_Dad's dead, Wy," Chris replied pointedly. "He can't come to anything."_

"_Even when he wasn't dead, he was always trying to save the world instead of us…" Wyatt crossed his arms over his chest. "Look, Mom loves Dad more than she will ever love anyone else. I know that because I am an emapth, I could feel it. So maybe she and Greg aren't soul mates or whatever, but he makes her happy. Do you really want to take that away from her?"_

"_No…"_

_break _

_When he came to, the first thing he smelled was the blood. Then he remembered the demon attack, the pain, the sudden surprise, the screams, the fear, his mother's panic, heat and cold…_

_Then he rolled over and found himself staring into his mother's glazed over eyes, her lifeless body sprawled out on the kitchen floor next to him._

_break _

"_Wyatt, what are you doing?" fourteen-year-old Chris demanded, grabbing his brother and pulling him away from the demon. He waved his hand, telekinetically sending a vanquishing potion from the cabinet by the wall at the demon, causing him to scream and go up in flames. "You were torturing him!"_

_Wyatt yanked his arm out of Chris' grip. "You aren't my keeper, Chris," Wyatt hissed angrily. "I can do whatever the hell I want!" And he orbed away in a flurry of black and blue._

_break _

"_I don't understand how magic was exposed," Henry said, leaning over the Book. "Where were the Cleaners?"_

"_Where were the Cleaners when Prue died?" Phoebe replied sarcastically. She added a teaspoon of black poppy to the potion and watched as it sizzled and boiled._

"_Should we really have all of this stuff here?" fifteen-year-old Chris asked worriedly, holding a jar of fairy wings in his hand. "If the witch hunters come…"_

"_The hunters are the least of your problems," a cold voice snarled, and Chris spun around to see several demons shimmering into the room. One of the demons threw a potion at him, and he collapsed to the floor, unconscious. _

_By the time he awoke, it would be too late to save his aunt and uncle._

_break _

"_How did he die?" Wyatt asked worriedly, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Melinda and Cole. His younger cousin was sitting on the sofa, listening to Cole read a story to her. Helen was sitting at Cole's feet, Patience next to her, and Patty was lying on the floor, drawing with crayons. Little Henry crouched next to Penny, watching her cautiously._

"_I don't know," sixteen-year-old Chris answered softly, trying his best to keep his voice low. "Daryl didn't tell me anything about the details."_

_Cole paused in his reading long enough to give Wyatt and Chris a searching stare. They met his gaze, their expressions filled with sorrow, and, in Wyatt's case, anger. The half-demon turned his attention back to the book he was reading._

"_You told Cole?" Wyatt murmured._

_Chris nodded unhappily. "Yeah, he was here when Daryl called." He ran a hand through his hair, then said sheepishly, "I miss him."_

"_Daryl?" Wyatt asked, confused._

_Chris rolled his eyes. "Greg," he replied. "I miss Greg." He turned away from his few remaining family members and stared through the doorway into the kitchen. "I didn't even like him when he was alive, and I hated coming downstairs in the morning and seeing him there with Mom… but I miss him."_

_Wyatt didn't answer the comment. Finally, he said, "Daryl didn't tell you anything at all?"_

"_Just that it was a demon attack, and it had been quick," Chris answered. "Greg probably didn't feel any pain." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Daryl's probably worried that if he gives us too much information, we'll go after the demon ourselves."_

_The look on Wyatt's face clearly indicated that he would go after the demon regardless of what Daryl did or did not tell them._

"_I miss all of them," Chris said with a shrug, still staring at the kitchen. All of the ones who had died, leaving him behind to try to live in this world. His grandfather's death, only a few months earlier, had been the only one caused by anything mortal. The years of smoking had finally caught up with the old man, and he was torn away from his family as well._

_Wyatt orbed away._

_Chris stared at the spot his brother had stood and muttered, "And you, Wy. I miss you too."_

_break _

"_Die, witches! Burn, burn!"_

"_Patty, Helen, no! No, please, don't…"_

"_Burn!"_

"_NO!"_

"_BURN!"_

_break _

_Wyatt rose fearlessly from where he was sitting on the stone floor and gave the demon before him an impetuous look. He had been attacked and brought to this cave, but so far the demons that had tried to kill him had all failed. Instead of escaping, which he knew he would have easily been able to do, he had opted to wait. He had a plan to put into action, and nothing was going to stand in his way._

_Except possibly the beaten and exhausted boy sprawled at his feet._

_Wyatt gave Chris a quick look, long enough to make sure his brother was still breathing. He'd healed his brother after the initial demon attack, but Chris had pushed his hands away, claiming he did not want Wyatt's help._

_Wyatt let out an angry sigh. Chris had been pulling away from him since Helen and Patty's death just a few months prior. He had disapproved of Wyatt's actions, claiming that attacking the witch hunters only gave mortals more of a reason to fear them. But it was these very same witch hunters that had burned their cousins at the stake, and Wyatt would be damned if he let anything happen to his few remaining family members._

_How many times had he made a promise that he would look after them all? How many times had he failed?_

_But not now, not again. Today was the beginning of something new. Today, Wyatt would prove that no one, demon, mortal, or witch, would ever be strong enough to stand against him._

_He looked back at the demon. "Do you really think you can hurt me?" he mocked cruelly._

"_Wy… let's just go…" Chris begged, coughing, pushing himself to his knees. He had refused to leave without his brother, but Wyatt hadn't wanted to go._

"_What makes you think you can?" the demon smirked._

_Wyatt waved his hand casually, and the demon suddenly screamed as flames engulfed his body. He was not vanquished however, and after a moment, Wyatt allowed the flames to fizzle out and die. He stared at the other demons who were coming forward. "I am Wyatt Halliwell. I am the Twice Blessed. I am the reincarnation of King Arthur. You cannot stop me!"_

"_Wy, please…" Chris was on his feet now._

"_You will bow to me," Wyatt continued. "I will be your leader. You will follow my orders…" He glanced at the first demon again and blinked. The demon howled as he went up in flames, only this time he was truly vanquished, and became nothing more than swirling ash in the air. "… or you will join your comrade."_

"_Wyatt, what are you doing?" Chris begged, shaking his head. This wasn't right…_

_But they had reached a turning point, and there was no going back from here._

_break _

_Twenty-two-year-old Chris watched as his fiancée drew a triqueta on the wall. A lot had changed in the six years since that day in the cave when Wyatt had crossed the line and declared himself the Source. Patience was gone, he had set up a Resistance against his own brother, Melinda had slowly changed into a cold and hard person he barely recognized anymore, Shelia and Michael had been killed, Greg had been made into a white-lighter, all witches had been driven underground by the witch hunters, and Bianca had walked into his life._

_Bianca turned towards him, her face drawn. "It's time."_

_Chris nodded slowly. He had left Melinda in charge of the Resistance, and he wasn't sure that was a wise decision. Bianca had been opposed to the idea, but he hoped with Greg, Cole, and Daryl all there to guide her, Melinda would be able to make the right choices._

"_I don't want to go," he said at last. "I don't want to leave you."_

_Bianca gave him the ghost of a smile and slid the ring off her finger. "Here," she whispered, extending her hand to him. "This will remind you of why we're doing this, what's waiting for you here." They had been through so much together, and now they both had to endure the next several months, and whatever pain they would bring, without the other one there to offer support._

_He wrapped his arms around her, inhaling the smell of her hair and sweater._

"_Just make sure you take care of the guards, okay?" Chris said, pulling back so he could look her in the eye. "Then get out of here. Because if he finds you, if he knows you betrayed him, he'll kill you." Bianca had only been allowed to live because Wyatt had not realized the true extent of her betrayal. Once he found out…_

"_Don't worry," Bianca replied, "I can take care of myself."_

_They both knew that she could more than take care of herself against a demon, and they both knew she wouldn't stand a chance against Wyatt. Neither commented on that truth._

_They walked over to hologram of the Book of Shadows. Chris pulled out the wrinkled piece of paper and unfolded it, smoothing out the creases._

"_I call upon the ancient power to help us in this darkest hour. Let the Book return to this place, claim refuse in its rightful space." There was the sound of wind rattling against the windows, a rush of something falling, and then the Book appeared before them, lying on the podium. "It worked," Chris breathed._

"_The spell," Bianca said urgently, already flipping through the pages. "Find the spell."_

_They found the spell, and Chris placed his hand firmly on the page and began to intone the words, knowing that this was the final point of no return. From here on out, he was on his own. "Hear these words, hear the rhyme, heed the hope within my mind. Send me back to where I'll find what I wish in place and time."_

_The chalk triqueta on the wall glowed an eerie blue and suddenly a portal appeared, filling the room with its flickering light. Chris took a step forward, then glanced back at Bianca, a look of anguish on his face. He did not want to leave her._

_And the a demon shimmered into the room right behind the Phoenix, and Chris cried out in terror, "Bianca!"_

_The assassin witch spun around to face the demon, and they both fell to the floor. She was up on her feet again, fighting as hard as she could._

_Glancing over her shoulder, Bianca cried, "Go! Go!"_

_And Chris turned and walked away, stepping through the portal and leaving behind everything that mattered to him most in the world._

When he opened his eyes, Bianca was standing over him, a look of concern on her pretty features. He studied her face, noticing for the first time all the tiny changes, the little things that had not been there before. Her hair had highlights in it now, and her eyes were colder than he remembered. She seemed to be made of hard edges and sharp corners, and everything about her reminded him that she was an assassin.

This was not the woman he had left before, not the woman who had stood next to him while he called for the Book of Shadows, not the woman who had fought off the demon while he traveled back in time.

Bianca stared at him, her eyes narrowed in confusion. "Are you okay? You fell to the ground. I was outside, I heard the sound and when I came in you were shaking."

"You've changed," Chris said bluntly. It was the first thought that came to mind.

"What?"

"You lied to me," Chris continued, and suddenly his anger was bursting from him. "You lied over and over. Did you think I wouldn't ever figure it out? That I wouldn't notice? Everything you said to me… you told me my family was killed when I was just a child. Wyatt lied as well, and you… How could you? I loved you, Bianca! I…"

Bianca had stepped away from him during his rant, her eyes now widening as she realized what had happened.

He remembered everything.

"How could you bring me back here? How could you take me away from everything? I was going to save us, save this future and you…"

"Wait, Chris, I can explain!" Bianca interrupted him, her voice shaking with emotion.

"Can you really?" Chris demanded, his own voice shaking with rage. "You fed me lies about how I was susceptible to evil. You told me I needed to come back so that Wyatt could protect me."

"He was going to kill you," Bianca protested. "If I didn't come for you, he would just an assassin after you…"

"So?" Chris hissed. "There's obviously nothing left more me here anyway." He gave her a disgusted look and walked to the door.

"Chris, please," Bianca began, grabbing his arm, "just listen…"

"No need to explain," Chris said, flinging his hand out and telekinetically throwing her against the wall. "Melinda was right about you all along. I should never have trusted that you loved me too." And he strode from the room, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

"What have I done?" It was the refrain Paige settled on as she paced back and forth across the empty room. She had already tried pounding on the door of Melinda's room several times, but no one had emerged. After that, everything seemed to be a blur until she ended up back in the room they were supposed to be using as a bedroom, pacing liked a caged tiger across the floor.

Phoebe sat on the bed, playing over and over in her mind all the angry things she had said to Henry. Next to her, Piper stood, one hand resting comfortingly on her shoulder, but eyes trained on Paige.

"You didn't know, Paige. None of us did," Piper reasoned. She'd taken out her anger on him when he'd accidentally revealed the truth of Wyatt's morality. She'd been harsh to him when he prevented them all from speaking to Melinda. Was there anything she hadn't done wrong?

"I should have known," Paige argued. "I should have been able to feel it. He's my son!"

"I didn't know Melinda was my daughter," Phoebe whispered. She bit her lip and added, "How could my husband have just left…?" She still couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that her husband would have bailed on his own children when they needed him most. And that Cole would have been the one to play the father figure instead.

"Everything Cole said… about Melinda… about the divisions in the group… do you think that was all true?" Paige asked, stopping her pacing long enough to give both Piper and Phoebe long probing looks.

"I don't know," Piper admitted. "Do you think we should make the deal with Lavinia?"

"Well, Melinda is clearly against it," Phoebe said dryly, remembering the heated argument from the council meeting. "And so was pretty much everyone else there."

"Any ideas why Chris is so important?" Piper questioned, changing the subject slightly.

"Well, he was obviously a good friend of Melinda and Henry's," Phoebe replied thoughtfully. "And Wyatt's. Maybe they knew each other growing up?"

'Yes, but why would some random witch-lighter be running the Resistance?" Piper pressed. "Why not one of us? Why not a Halliwell?"

"Henry's too young," Paige said automatically. "He can't be more than sixteen or seventeen." She shook her head, in awe over the entire situation. But her expression fell again, and she said hoarsely, "And I was mean to him. He has the entire weight of the world on his shoulders, and I…"

"He has people to help him," Piper said comfortingly. "So does Melinda. They aren't alone." But Wyatt was, she realized with a start. Whatever it was that had turned him had also cut him off from his family. He had no one to guide him, to stand beside him. No one he could truly trust except the demons who worked for him.

"How could I have not seen it?" Paige was still saying. Her words brought a flush of shame to Piper's face, the eldest Charmed One had said some unpleasant things to her nephew. But how could they have known?

"It doesn't matter," a voice said, and the sisters turned to see the Cole standing in the doorway. He was looking at Paige with a mixture of annoyance and compassion. "Whatever you've said to Henry doesn't matter. He'll forgive you."

"You don't know that!" Paige retorted, but she was so desperate to have him convince her of his views that there was no heat in her words. She didn't even remember to be angry with him for all the pain he had caused them in the past.

"Right now, I know Henry a lot better than any of you do," Cole said softly. "He'll forgive you. He loves you." His eyes moved to Phoebe, and the words caught in his throat as he said, "And Melinda loves you."

"You and Melinda don't really seem to be getting along," Piper said sardonically. "You expect us to believe that you know her so well when the two of you can't even be in the same room without yelling at each other?"

"I knew Melinda when she was growing up," Cole said. He leaned his tall form against the wall, eyes still on Phoebe, and said, "That sweet, innocent child that I first met is still in there somewhere. She still loves you."

"How are you in our lives again?" Paige asked, flopping onto the bed next to her sister. "How many times are we going to have to vanquish you?"

Cole managed a smirk. "I always come back, Paige. No matter what."

"Why?" Phoebe huffed, giving her ex-husband a glare.

Cole actually stopped to consider the question. After a moment, he said, "I guess the world just wasn't done with me yet." He held her gaze for a beat, the barest hint of a smile gracing his lips. Once again, the rush of sadness passed through him as he thought of her with another man, another person beside her on the alter, vowing to love her for all eternity. And, as usual, the sadness turned to fury as he remembered the way Melinda's father had just left his daughters and the family, unable to deal with his grief.

"If you think that there is any chance I'm going to take you back when all you did was cause me pain…" Phoebe began, but Cole just shook his head.

"I would have given the wizard my powers if it meant being able to live a life with you. You're the one who stopped that, Phoebe. You're the one who left the Source in my body." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. This was not the time for blame. But Phoebe was already speaking before he had the chance to take back what had already been said.

"Don't you dare blame this on me," Phoebe snarled, and Piper and Paige backed her up with angry glares.

Cole let out a slow breath. "Look, I didn't come here to argue with you," he said finally. "At least, not about that. But we need to talk about the deal with Lavinia."

"Melinda is against it," Phoebe said automatically. "And Henry didn't looked too thrilled by the idea either."

Cole shrugged, unconcerned by the disagreements of the two younger Halliwells. "Perhaps," he consented, "but when you go back to the past, they won't be there. So it really is your decision, not theirs."

"And why would we agree to work with a demon?" Phoebe demanded, still seething from Cole's earlier attempt to blame her for the problems in their relationship. "That _never_ ends well."

Cole flinched, but continued determinedly, "Because it might be our only way of saving Chris. Whether anyone else here wants to admit it or not, we need Bianca's help, and she won't give it unless we can promise to keep Chris safe."

"We can find another way," Piper argued.

At the same time, Paige asked, "How do we even know that Bianca is trustworthy?"

Cole addressed piper first. "You might think you can find another way, but it would still be much riskier. I'm not taking chances with Chris' life, not if I don't have to." He then turned to Paige, his expression unreadable. After a moment's pause, he said, "Bianca loves Chris."

"You can still hurt the people you love," Phoebe pointed out, her words filled with a double meaning.

"True," Cole said with a bittersweet smile, "but you still try to save them. Bianca will help us."

Paige rolled her eyes and asked, "And how do we know that _you_ are trustworthy? All you ever do is cause us pain, and I'm tired of seeing my sister hurt."

Piper spoke up in agreement, "How do we know that you don't have some other agenda? Why did you even come back into our lives in the first place?"

"Let me guess, some twisted plan to get Phoebe away from her family?" Paige snorted in derision. "Do you think that, now that we know you are supposedly good, when we go back to the past Phoebe will give you a second chance?"

"I would never ask her to do that," Cole said, and he knew that every word he was speaking was the truth. "I'm done trying to get Phoebe to love me."

"What made you finally come to your senses?" Paige taunted.

Cole gave her a cold look and wondered to himself how the conversation had strayed so far from topic. "Because I've met Melinda. And contrary to what you all believe, I do actually care about her. I would never do anything to prevent her from being born… even if that means watching Phoebe marry a weak, self-centered, pathetic man." If there was any doubt in the sisters' mind about his opinion of Melinda's father, it was gone now.

Of course, Phoebe had to admit that she felt the same way. How could she have married someone who would just abandon her children when they needed him the most?

"Better than a half-demon," Piper muttered under her breath.

Cole gave her a strange look, then said softly, "It's funny how you all only think of the half-demon part. You forget that I'm also half-human."

"The human part doesn't really seem to matter since you are still evil," Paige mocked.

Cole sighed and shook his head. Talking to the sisters was like talking to a wall, they didn't listen to a word he said. But he'd forgotten just how annoying the Charmed Ones from that particular time were. Sooner or later, they would grow up and start realizing that there was a bigger picture than there own self-centered lives. He remembered Phoebe, the Phoebe that he had known in this time, the brave warrior, the one who had died, fighting to the last. He missed_that_ Phoebe.

"Family is everything to the three of you," Cole said slowly, his words painful and filled with regret. "There is nothing you won't do, over and over, just to save the people you love. I had never seen you back down from a fight, I had never seen you give up on someone. I had never seen you decide that someone was beyond your help." His eyes locked with Phoebe. "When did you decide that you couldn't save me?"

There was a tense silence, and then all three sisters opened their mouths to speak. Cole, however, did not let them get a word in edgewise, but instead turned the conversation back to the problem at hand.

"It is imperative that we rescue Chris, and soon. I need to know if you three will take the deal with Lavinia."

"I don't like it," Phoebe snapped.

"Even if not doing it means risking Chris' life?" Cole asked. He had known all along that the sisters would not welcome his ideas, but he would make sure they understood the importance of this. And if that meant he had to spill Chris' secret… Well, he would deal with Chris' wrath later, just as long as the witch-lighter was alive enough to be angry.

"Look, I get that Chris is important to all of you," Piper interrupted before Phoebe could reply, "but all he's done is screw up our lives."

Cole raised an eyebrow. "He's trying to save your son," he said bitterly. "Why are you working so hard against him?"

"He split up Leo and I!" Piper hissed.

Cole started at her blankly; he had not heard that particular bit of news. His jaw dropped, and for a moment he wondered if Chris was actually trying to erase his own existence. But no, that didn't make sense. There was obviously more to this story that met the eye, and he knew the only person who could give him the full details was Chris… assuming he got his memory back.

"I doubt that was his intention," Cole said at last. "He would never do anything to hurt you. At least not on purpose."

"Why not?" Piper questioned, surprised by the comment.

Cole hesitated, then said, "All of Wyatt's friends adored you. You were the coolest mother of the group." He offered a smile which Piper did not return. Finally, he said, "Do you want to save your son or not?"

"Of course I do," Piper retorted, flushed with embarrassment that he would even have to ask that. She would never abandon her child.

"Then you need to make this deal with Lavinia," Cole said through clenched teeth. "And then three of you need to stop bothering your future children or wandering around this place trying to find answers to all your questions. You need to focus your energy on finding a way back home because you are not going to have access to the Nexus."

"We will find a way home," Paige glowered, "but why do we need to focus so much on Chris?"

"Because he's important!" Cole nearly bellowed. Honestly, how imperceptive were these witches? Chris was part witch, part white-lighter, stubborn, determined, neurotic, and powerful. How could they not see bits of themselves in him?

"Why?" Piper asked, throwing up her hands in frustration. The lamp on the table near the door exploded and everyone flinched in surprise. Piper didn't even bat an eye. She just stared at Cole, waiting for his answer.

There was a dead silence. Then the half-demon spoke.

"Because, Piper," Cole said slowly, praying that he was doing the right thing, "Chris is your son. Wyatt's younger brother."


	14. Broken Hearts

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Summary: When Chris loses his memory, it's up to the sisters to save him. But when a stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Broken Hearts

_Underworld, 2022_

_Patience glanced around the cave, her eyes narrowed in confusion and suspicion. Melinda stood next to her, and Chris, their cosmic taxi, hung in the background._

"_Are you sure this is the right place?" Patience asked her older sister._

_Melinda gave a shrug. "This is where the premonition was, I'm sure of that."_

_Patience sighed. "Then I guess we should look around," she muttered. The cave was a very standard cave, like anyone else in the Underworld. Its rough-hewn walls were covered with dust, and flickering shadows covered the dirt floor. The air was stlke and smelled like charred wood and smoke._

"_Do you really think you should be here?" Chris asked, stepping forward. "I mean… Mel's premonition showed you dying, Patience."_

"_She got the premonition so we could stop it," Patience pointed out dryly. She gave Chris a confident smirk. "I know you're used to taking care of me," she added teasingly, "but I'm a big girl now."_

"_You're fourteen," Chris argued, allowing himself a small smile at her antics. His expression sobered, however, and he said quietly, "I don't like this."_

"_What happened to taking risks?" Patience retorted with a grin._

"_Look, a demon kills you," Melinda said, interrupting the conversation. "He was tall, and wearing a dark cloak. He had a strange weapon in his hand… it shot a weird red light out of it. So let's just try to find him and vanquish him, okay?"_

"_Sure…" Patience scowled, giving her sister an annoyed stare. She hated being the younger one, she hated the way Melinda and Chris always insisted on keeping her safe._

_She had no way of knowing how valid their fears were._

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

"Wh-what?"

Cole took a moment to enjoy the rare sight of Piper Halliwell at a complete loss for words. Next to her, Phoebe had gone completely still and Paige seemed almost faint. The three sisters were staring at him with identical expressions of shock, and had the situation not been so serious, he might have laughed aloud.

But right now, nothing was funny.

"That's not… how is that… I don't understand… how am I… how is he my son?" Piper stammered, all color draining from her face.

Cole raised on eyebrow and said sardonically, "Do you really need me to explain the birds and the bees to you?" His lips twitched into the beginnings of a smile.

Blood suffused Piper's face, and she looked away.

"You knew all this time," Phoebe said finally, being the first one able to form coherent sentences. "All of you knew that Chris was our family, and you didn't tell us." Her tone of voice was questioning, but her words were clearly accusatory.

"I'm fairly certain that at least Greg and Henry both told you that Chris was important," Cole answered mildly. He watched with even more amusement as indignation flooded Piper's face.

"Important?" Piper sputtered. "He's my _son_. Important doesn't even begin to cover it."

"And there I thought you viewed him as nothing more than a neurotic nuisance," Cole countered, giving Piper a searching look. "You did, after all, question why he even needed saving."

Piper flushed in shame, but it was Paige who spoke up.

"We didn't know who he was," the witch-lighter said angrily, glaring at Cole. "We didn't know he was Piper's son."

A strange look crossed over Cole's face, and then he asked in a soft tone, but one that was still filled with heat, "So you only love him because you've discovered that he's family and you have to care about him?" His face twisted into an ugly smirk. "I wouldn't tell him that if I were you, Paige. It might not go over so well."

Piper gasped and swayed on her feet, Phoebe instantly reached out to steady her. Paige glared at Cole again.

"Look, I didn't come here to argue about this," Cole said, instantly feeling regret for his harsh words. Although he had told himself, over and over, that he would not allow these three witches to work their way back into his heart, he found himself miserably failing at protecting his emotions from their influences. It had been so long since he had seen Phoebe, and although he had done his best to deal with the fact that he was no longer her one true love, he couldn't help but wonder if, just maybe, things could have been different.

But then Melinda and Patience wouldn't have been born. Could he live with himself if he caused that?

Piper, oblivious to Cole's inner turmoil, asked sharply, "What did you come here for?"

"To talk about Lavinia's deal," Cole answered. "Will you take it?"

"Of course," Piper replied. Now that she knew the truth about Chris, there was nothing she wouldn't do to save him.

"Okay," Cole said, pleased that he had gotten the response he wanted. "Then I'll try to make contact with Bianca. You guys need to figure out a way to get back to the past."

"I don't like this," Phoebe said suddenly. "I don't like trusting Bianca."

Cole rolled his eyes. Like mother, like daughter. "You don't even know Bianca," he pointed out.

"She betrayed Chris," Piper said, giving Phoebe a thoughtful stare. "I'm not sure I like this either."

"You don't really have another choice," Cole replied. He could defend Bianca's decisions to all of them, or at least direct some of the blame to where it really belonged on Melinda and Wyatt, but that was a longer conversation than he really had time for at the moment.

"Chris is my son," Piper said, and every time she said the words they sounded more and more right. "Shouldn't I have a say in the plan to rescue him?"

"No," a new voice said, and the sisters turned to see Melinda standing in the doorway. Her face was drawn and pale, and her eyes were rimmed with red. Her lips, compressed into a thin line, appeared colorless. "Cole's right," she added. "This is the best way."

Even Cole seemed startled by her comment, obviously having assumed he would still need to fight her on this.

"What? Wait, you trust Bianca now?" Phoebe asked, blinking in confusion at her daughter.

"No," Melinda said hoarsely. "But I trust that she loves Chris." She looked over at Cole and opened her mouth, but whatever she wanted to say seemed stuck in her throat. She shook her head and moved her attention back to her mother. "You guys really need to head over to the library. Find a way back to the past."

"You could join us?" Phoebe ventured hesitantly, but Melinda shook her head.

"No… I need to… go. I have… stuff…" Melinda turned and hurried away, swiftly striding from the room. Phoebe started to follow her, but Cole got in her way, stopping her with a shake of his head.

"You can't keep from seeing my daughter, Cole!" Phoebe hissed, furious.

"For God's sake, would the three of you please stop thinking about yourselves!" Cole snapped, his words echoing in the sudden stillness of the room. In a quieter voice, he continued, "Do you think it is particularly easy for Melinda to see her dead mother sudden alive in front of her? Did it occur to you that maybe having you hound her simply isn't the best idea right now? She needs time and space."

"How do you know what she needs right now isn't her mother?" Phoebe countered.

"Because I know her a lot better than you do right now," Cole answered grimly. There was too much truth in his words for the sisters to deny, but Phoebe continued to stare at the door with a look of longing on her face.

"Our children," Paige murmured. In some ways, they didn't even seem like children anymore. Even Henry walked as though he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. And, she supposed, he did. But even though he was an adult now, Henry was still her son. Something began to grow inside of her, a warm and comforting feeling of knowing that she had a son.

Meanwhile, Piper fell back onto the bed, pulling her knees into her chest and feeling the burning sensation of tears pooling in her eyes. How could they have treated Chris like this? How could they have not known that he was their family?

"We're going to have plenty of time to make it up to him," Phoebe said comfortingly, her empathy powers allowing her to sense Piper's guilt. "When we get back to the past… things will be different."

"How can I make it up?" Piper asked hollowing. "Phoebe, I made him sleep in the backroom of P3! I didn't trust him, I yelled at him, I… I thought he was evil!"

"You're not the only one who mistreated him," Paige answered, thinking of all the times she'd blown off his requests for help with the next demon vanquish, all the times she told him he needed to get a life. "We didn't know who he was, and we didn't know what the future was like."

"But we should have," Piper argued. "We should have known that the future was horrible. He kept telling us… Paige, we should have known that he would only take these risks if it was important. He kept saying how dangerous it was to play with the time and then he… He came back to save Wyatt and we treated him like a nuisance."

Phoebe wrapped her arms around Piper. "We'll make it up to him, Piper. I promise. It will be alright."

But Piper didn't seem convinced.

Cole watched as Paige and Phoebe tried to comfort Piper. They had almost completely forgotten his presence, and he debated leaving them alone. But the look of complete misery on Piper's face held him tightly rooted to the spot, unable to leave.

And then Piper lifted her eyes to meet his gaze.

That was the problem with these Charmed Ones. Every time he wanted to yell at them, to call then out for the arrogant witches they were, to walk away from them, to completely give up… they would suddenly looked at him with those great doe-eyes, and he would find himself melting under the desire to say something, anything, to erase that look of complete despair from their faces.

Piper, he remembered, had been nicer to him than either Prue or Paige. And even Paige, despite the constant fighting that had occurred in the past, and would occur between them in her future, managed to get under his skin. He could not turn away from either of the sisters any more than he could turn away from Phoebe.

And Phoebe was the love of his life.

So Cole did the only thing he really could. He walked over to Piper and crouched down on the floor by the side of the bed so that he could look directly into her eyes.

"Piper, listen to me. Whatever it was you said or did to Chris, he's going to forgive you for that."

"You don't know that," Piper protested.

Cole gave a thin smile. "Yes, I do. I know Chris."

Piper gave him a skeptical look.

"You taught him how to cook," Cole said quietly. "The first thing he ever made on his own was pancakes. He made them for you for mother's day, and he almost completely destroyed the kitchen in the process. Somehow, he managed to get egg into the ceiling lights." Cole paused, now grinning more broadly. "We never did figure out how he managed that."

Piper sniffed and gave a watery smile.

"Anyway, when you got out of bed and saw the state of the kitchen, you were a little shocked. And that made Chris disappointed, because he had wanted to have it all cleaned up before you saw it. So, to make him happy, you went back to bed and pretended to sleep for another hour while he attempted to clean." Cole slanted a look at Paige and added, "I think his favorite Aunt gave him a little help with it also."

"Hey! Why don't I get to be the favorite Aunt?" Phoebe protested while Paige grinned happily.

Cole chuckled. "Because Paige had a tendency to spoil him," he said, laughing. "I don't think you ever said no to a single request Chris made."

Piper glared at Paige. "You will not spoil my children," she warned.

Cole laughed outright at that and said, "She was the last to have children so she had to spoil someone."

"Children?" Paige said suddenly, giving Cole a strange look. "You mean I have more than Henry?"

For a moment, Cole had forgotten where he was. For a moment, he had managed to pretend as though he was back in the past, in some time when the sisters cared about him, when he was part of the family. For a moment, he was able to forget the heavy shadows hanging over all of them.

But Paige's question changed all that.

He thought of Patty and Helen. The twins, named for Paige's biological and adopted mothers, burned at the stake for being witches. A dark look passed through his face, and he said softly, his voice trembling with emotion, "You only have Henry now." At Paige's inquiring look, he added, "Witch hunters."

Paige inhaled sharply, and Phoebe gave her sister a comforting look.

Cole turned his attention back to Piper, wanting to drive away the dark memories. "Anyway," he said with forced cheerfulness, "Chris just wanted to make you happy. Always. And you… you wanted him to be happy. Sure, you had your fights, particularly around Greg, but…"

"Greg?" Piper demanded.

"Chris didn't like it," Cole said, and this time there was real a real smile in his eyes. "He thought you were trying to replace Leo." The half-demon sighed and shook his head. "He didn't understand that you could love Greg, but still love Leo more."

"You've got a thing for white-lighters," Paige remarked, giving her sister a nudge and a teasing wink.

But Cole said dryly, "He wasn't a white-lighter when you met him," and the sisters lapsed into uncomfortable silence. Cole continued, "But Chris was civil to Greg. After a while, he even made an effort to be nice to him, to welcome him into the family." He looked at Piper. "To make you happy."

Piper shook her head. "I don't understand…" she whispered.

"He'll forgive you for anything you've said or done," Cole added, "because you are his mother. His very wonderful mother who he loved so incredibly much."

Piper brushed away the few stray tears. After discovering that Wyatt was evil, she had wondered, in the dark recesses of her mind, if it wasn't her fault. Had she pushed him to his path by being a bad mother? Had she not been able to guide and influence him to make the right decisions? But to hear, from Cole, that at least one of her sons loved her that much… She couldn't have hoped for anything better.

"I need to get back to the Underworld," Cole said, rising and moving away from Piper. "Greg will be here shortly to take you back to the library." He walked from the room, cautiously closing the door behind him. Before he had gotten very far, however, the door opened again and Phoebe slipped out into the hall.

"Wait," she called softly.

Cole turned and looked at her, his expression unreadable.

"I just…" Phoebe hesitated, then said, "Thank you. For what you said to Piper."

Cole gave her a long stare. Finally, he said quietly, "Contrary to what you all seem to believe, I do actually care about this family."

Phoebe bit her lip and nodded. "I'm getting that," she said. After another silence, she added, "You've been particularly nice to Piper." It wasn't a question, but she still wanted to hear his response. When she had wanted to go after Melinda, he'd called her arrogant. When Piper had been upset about Chris, he'd comforted her. Why the difference?

Again, the contemplative stare from Cole. "It's easier to be nice to Piper," he said at last. "I'm not in love with her. She didn't break my heart." Without waiting for a response, he shimmered away.

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

Melinda had long since come the realization that she hated being a Halliwell. She loved her family, she truly did, but life was not easy as a Halliwell.

She was staring at the window. On the other side of the glass, the waterfall coursed over the rocks, splashing into the small reflecting pool. The tree branches rattled in the magically-created wind, while the magically-created sun beat down on the green grass.

It was idyllic.

She flung out her hands, releasing a burst of energy that sizzled in the air and shattered the windows.

"Now, was that really necessary?"

Melinda spun around to face Max. He was standing in the doorway to the room, his dark hair sticking up on the end, his eyes narrowed in concern.

"I can fix it," Melinda answered, giving the fragments of glass a quick look.

"That's really besides the point," Max said, taking a few steps into the room. He, too, eyed the glass for a moment. Then he took a seat at the large table and stared up at Melinda, silently asking her to explain what was wrong.

"Do you think I did the right thing, kicking out Bianca?" Melinda asked finally, taking a seat next to Max and staring at him searchingly.

"We've had this conversation before," Max said, his voice clearly conveying his frustration at her sudden self-doubt on the subject. "She's hardly trustworthy."

"She didn't betray us," Melinda said. She whispered the words, but Max heard them anyway and gave her a confused look. Melinda sighed and continued, "Ever since she and Chris became… well, a couple, for lack of a better term… she didn't betray us. She was on our side."

"Or so we thought," Max pointed out. "In the beginning we believed she was on our side as well, and she was actually working for Wyatt."

Melinda rubbed her eyes. "I know, I just can't help but wonder if I… if I just made things worse when I kicked her out."

Max took her hand in his and said reassuringly, "You were thinking like a leader, Melinda. And sometimes leaders need to make difficult decisions. You made one."

"Was I just clouded by my anger at Cole? Did I want to view all demons or assassins as evil because of him?" Melinda countered, as though she had not even heard Max's prior statement.

"How many people do you think the Phoenixes who work for Wyatt have killed? How many people do you think Bianca herself killed?" Max asked. His eyes grew angry, filled with a sudden hatred. "How many families have been ripped apart because of Wyatt's elite assassins?"

"I know," Melinda said, slowly expelling the breath she did not even realize she had been holding.

"And Cole is a demon," Max added. "You have a reason to be wary of demons." His voice twisted into an ugly sneer as he spoke those words. They all had reasons to be wary of demons. They'd all lost people they loved to Wyatt's regime, and Max was no exception to that.

Melinda nodded. But she wondered silently if that was the real reason she didn't like Cole. Her parents had frequently gotten into arguments after Cole had somehow wormed his way back into the family. When she was younger, she didn't understand this tension between her parents. Cole was just her mother's friend, the one who came by and read her stories or brought her cookies and brownies. It wasn't until she was much older, and able to look back on her childhood, that she realized why her father had never liked Cole's presence in their house.

And could she blame him? Her father was a cupid, which meant he was perfectly able to sense the love Phoebe still harbored for Cole. He didn't want competition in his wife's heart.

After her mother had died, the last of the Halliwell sisters to be overtaken by evil, her father had fallen to pieces. And while it was most certainly Cole who stepped in and held the family together during that trying time, it was also Cole's actions that caused her father to stray further and further from the family. He had lost his wife to evil, and now Cole was taking his daughters from him as well, raising them, looking after them, taking care of them. He was already weak, already unable to cope with the burdens of single-fatherhood, especially when he was also forced to look after five cousins and a sick and aging grandfather that made up the family as well. Cole took his burdens from him, but he still left, driven away by the realization that he was no longer needed.

Demons ruin things. It was what her mother had said the first time she asked about who Cole was and why nobody seemed to want him in the house. That was before they had slowly accepted him back into their lives. That was when he still made her mother cry. And when she had asked why Cole had this effect on everything…

Demons ruin things.

Melinda looked at the shattered window and sighed.

* * *

_Underworld, 2022 _

_The demons shimmered in before Chris could react to their presence. He was thrown backwards, his head smashing against the wall, and the darkness quickly claimed him._

_Patience and Melinda both spun around to stare at Chris' limp form. He was the only half-angel, the only one with the ability to orb out of here. Until he woke up, they were stuck in this cave._

"_Well, well, well… What have we here?" one of the demons mocked, his voice filled with malicious laughter._

"_Two baby Halliwells, wandering about by themselves?" Another asked, moving forward and circling Melinda and Patience with a predatorily air._

_Melinda pointed her hand and the nearest clump of demons, and the burst of energy that flooded from her fingertips instantly vanquished several of their attackers. A howl of rage went up from the other demons, who began to close in on the two witches._

_Patience lifted one hand and pointed it at the ceiling. The entire ground began to shake, causing the demons to lose their balance. Several of them, taken unaware by the earthquake, fell to their hands and knees._

_Melinda shook her head at Patience's display of power. While Melinda had inherited a few elaborate tricks, such as the energy blast, she mostly just had the usual Charmed powers. Her mother's premonitions, her aunt Prue's telekinetic powers, and molecular combustion. Patience was able to control the elements, such as her magically-caused earthquake. She could summon fire and water on command, although she still struggled with wind._

_The demons, still shaken and scattered by the earthquake, were unprepared for Melinda's next energy blast. Several more were vanquished._

_But then another demon walked forward. He had remained hidden mostly in the back, and they had not taken note of his presence. But the minute Melinda saw him, she paled, her skin going unnaturally white. He was wearing a long cloak and a confident smirk, and in his hand he held a strange-looking silver weapon._

"_No!" Melinda cried, turning to face him at the same time that he lifted the weapon and pointed it at Patience._

_And then several things happened at once, and yet all of them appeared to happen in slow motion._

_Melinda screamed in horror as the weapon burst to life and a thin stream of red light emitted from it, striking Patience in the chest._

_Wyatt appeared in a dazzle of blue and black orbs, and his eyes turned midnight blue as he saw the demon attacking his cousin._

_Chris awoke, blinking away the dizziness, opening his eyes to the sight of Patience's lifeless body hitting the floor with a sudden thud._

_Melinda ran to her sister's side, and Chris struggled to his feet and joined her. Wyatt was rushing towards the demons, vanquishing them all with bursts of fire from his palm. Over the sudden din of panicked footsteps and flames scorching the stone, they heard Wyatt yelling._

"_You were supposed to bring them to me, not kill her! How dare you? How dare you?" _

"_Did you really think we would follow the orders of a witch?" the demon who had killed Patience snarled._

_Melinda jumped to her feet and flung out her hand, attempting to blow up the demon. The power hit him, causing him to take a few steps backwards, but he was not hurt. He looked at her, a smirk on his face, and sneered unpleasantly._

_The demon then prepared to shimmer away, but Wyatt lifted his hand and clenched it into a tight fist, using his powers to prevent all the demons from leaving._

"_Did you really think you could double-cross me and get away with it?" he asked, his voice dangerously low._

_Flames began to consume the demons, flames that burned and scorched but did not kill. The demons were screaming in pain, begging for mercy, and Wyatt stared at them all with a cold and hard expression on his face._

_Chris grabbed Melinda's arm, put his hand on Patience's dead body, and orbed the three of them away._


	15. Crime and Punishment

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: Crime and Punishment

_Wyatt's Apartment, 2025_

Chris didn't even glance behind him as the door to his bedroom swung shut. He did not want to see Bianca's face, didn't want to know how she was feeling. His fiancée, the woman he loved with all his heart, had betrayed him and brought him back here to his brother. He couldn't deal with that truth right now.

His first thought was to orb to the Resistance. If he left now, Wyatt wouldn't have time to stop him. He wouldn't be particularly safe there, but neither would he be in any immediate danger.

But he also need to return to the past, and that was something he couldn't do without the Book of Shadows. The minute Wyatt discovered that his little brother had regained memories of the past, he'd ensure that both the Book and the Nexus were protected from Chris. There would be no way at all to escape this future.

He was standing in the hallway, contemplating his next move, when Wyatt suddenly appeared in a swirl of orbs. Chris jolted, shocked, and fought against the urge to go on the offensive. If he was to have any chance of returning to the past, he would need to stay in his brother's good graces long enough to get access to the Book. And the only way to do that would be to pretend that he had not regained his memories.

"What's wrong?" Wyatt asked with a frown. "You look upset."

Chris shrugged. "Nothing, Wy. I just… wish I could remember, you know? I feel so useless right now."

The door opened and closed behind him, and Bianca stepped into the hallway. She gave him a quick look, but he did not spare a single glance in her direction.

"You're not useless," Wyatt said quickly, giving his brother a light punch on the shoulder. "No Halliwell is ever useless."

Chris gave a wan smile. "Right," he drawled.

"Maybe Bianca can help you relearn some things," Wyatt suggested. "We don't know how long it will be before your memories come back, but maybe you could work on making potions or something."

Chris tensed inwardly. The last thing he wanted was to spend any more time with the Phoenix. But he couldn't very well tell that to Wyatt or else he would risk exposing his secret, and it was imperative that the Twice Blessed continue to believe he had no memory.

"Potion making?" Chris asked, feigning interest as he turned to Bianca.

"You were pretty decent at it," Bianca said. She gave him a smile, one that did not quite reach her eyes. "Not as good as your Aunt Paige, I hear, but still… good."

Wyatt glanced between the two. He could sense the tension in the air, and wondered about it. From what he had seen before, if Chris remembered nothing else, he remembered his love for Bianca. So why was he going back on that now? Where was this suspicion and distrust coming from?

"Everything alright between the two of you?" Wyatt asked mildly, his eyes quickly taking note of the way Chris flinched at the question.

It was Bianca who answered the question. "Everything's fine, Wyatt. Chris just… discovered some of the more unpleasant parts of my past." At Wyatt's questioning look, she added, "He had a flashback in which I told him I was an assassin and… he saw me killing a witch."

Chris blinked and tried not to look too surprised at her words. He should have known she'd come up with an explanation, a way out of their predicament, she always did. Still, it surprised him to hear her blatantly lying to his brother.

It also surprised him once he realized that she had not simply turned him in. After all, she was working for Wyatt, and as long as he had his memories, he posed a grave threat. Why didn't she just reveal the truth?

"Ah…" Wyatt gave Chris' shoulder a squeeze. "I guess that would take some getting used to. Bianca did have a darker past before she spontaneously entered your life." He gave reassuring smile and added, "But don't worry, she won't hurt you. She'd have to go through me first." With a sarcastic grin at Bianca and a wink for Chris, he concluded, "I'll always protect you, little brother."

And who, Chris wondered to himself, was going to protect him from Wyatt?

"Come on," Bianca said, cutting into the conversation and steering Chris away from Wyatt. "I'll show you some stuff about making potions." And she began to lead him down the stairs.

Chris gave a small shrug and followed her, glancing once over his shoulder to see Wyatt giving him a searching stare.

Once they were inside the kitchen, Bianca turned to him and said, "If you're going to leave, now would be a good time to go. You could probably make it back to the Resistance before Wyatt's notices your absence."

"Why aren't you turning me in?" Chris sneered. "You already brought me this far."

Bianca glanced at the entrance to the kitchen. "Look, Chris, you might be a good actor, but you aren't _that_ good. Sooner or later, Wyatt will figure it out. He's already suspicious. If you're going to leave…"

"I'm not," Chris said firmly. "I still believe in my plan."

Bianca searched his face for some sign of softening, some clue that he still cared about her. But he stared back, his eyes hard, his face cold and unemotional. She forced her own face to remain as uncaring as she replied, "Then you're a fool."

Chris walked past her further into the kitchen. "Pull out the potion supplies," he said tersely. "If you aren't going to blow my cover, then shouldn't we be keeping up that lie you fed to your Lord?"

Bianca whirled to face him, her eyes glittering with rage. "I never wanted things to end up like this, Chris," she protested in a low growl.

"How did you think they would end up?" Chris asked viciously, raising his voice at her. He yanked open the door of one of the cupboards and pulled out a variety of different herbs and magical ingredients, depositing them on the counter. "How did you think I would react?" he continued.

"Keep your voice down," Bianca instructed worriedly, glancing over her shoulder at the door. She didn't want Wyatt to overhear any of this conversation. If he did, he would know the truth, and Chris would be in much more danger than he was now.

"Why do you care?" Chris asked bitterly.

"Chris, I was trying to keep you alive," Bianca said firmly, her face flushing crimson at his accusations. She walked over to the witch-lighter, pausing next to him as he pulled the largest pot out from the cabinet under the counter and set it on the stove. "Wyatt would have killed you."

"Oh, so this isn't betrayal," Chris mocked, "this is you trying to save my life? How _noble_."

"I was trying to save you," Bianca said, giving Chris a look of pain mixed with disgust. "Obviously my own sacrifices mean nothing to you."

"Sacrifices?" Chris hissed, outraged. "What did you sacrifice, Bianca? What could you have possibly given up that would be even remotely comparable to my loss of everything? You made me give up on Wyatt, on my family, on this future."

"I didn't want you to give up," Bianca answered calmly, although he could see some feeling flickering in her eyes. "I just hoped that we could find another way." She drew a breath, waiting for Chris' response.

For once, Chris cursed the fact that Bianca was so unreadable. What had kept her alive as an assassin and a spy in Wyatt's ranks was now working against him. He couldn't sense her emotions, couldn't read her thoughts. Other people carried their hearts on their sleeves, but with her, it was impossible to tell anything.

But Chris did know one thing. No matter what Bianca said, no matter how she tried to justify her actions, she had lied to him. She had tried to convince him of this entire past that wasn't true, tried to turn him into one of Wyatt's puppets. And he couldn't just forgive her for that.

"It would have been easier if you had just ripped my heart out," he said at last, turning his back on her. "Instead, you made me something I wasn't. You told me stories about how all my family had died in some great attack instead of just telling me the truth. You made me think I was a liability, a danger to the world. You… I trusted you, and this is how you repay me?"

"I didn't have a choice," Bianca said, and this time he could hear something else in her voice. Some anger and… was it grief? Regret? He wasn't sure.

"There's always a choice," Chris countered, moving the pot onto the stove and filling it with a cup of water. "You just took the easy way out."

"Do you really think this was easy?" Bianca snarled. "Do you really think any of this was easy?"

"Yes!" Chris exploded, fury filling his voice. "Yes, Bianca, I do think it was easy. You could have stayed hidden in the Resistance. You could have stayed away from Wyatt. But you didn't. Why? Why did you take the easy way out? Why did you give in to him?"

Bianca stepped back as though she had been slapped. "Do you really think I came to Wyatt willingly?" she asked in disbelief, clearly not having expected him to think so low of her.

"What else am I supposed to think?" Chris asked in response. "Instead of just killing me, you lie to me. You conspire with Wyatt to keep me from the truth. You attempt to turn me into one of his loyal followers. How could you have so easily forgotten about everything that we were fighting for unless you did it willingly?"

"You'd be surprised what your darling brother can do when he decides someone should be punished," Bianca snapped, irritated. She walked forward and rested her hands on the counter, staring at the now boiling water in the pot. "I didn't have safety, Chris. I didn't have some place to hide. I had _nothing_."

"So you decided to turn around and take it all out on me?" Chris demanded sarcastically. "Is that supposed to make everything better? You took your own failure and decided to make sure that I would fail as well?" Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the engagement ring that he had carried everywhere with him and tossed it onto the counter between them. "Take it. I don't want it anymore."

Bianca shook her head. "I don't know why I thought you would understand," she said at last. "I should have known better. I should have known _you_ better. You're a Halliwell, and you never cared about me, just like everyone else in your family. Without any more explanation, she shimmered from the room.

* * *

_Underworld, 2025_

When Bianca appeared directly in front of him in the dimly lit corridor, Cole's first instinct was to attack her. He had already conjured an energy ball before he caught a better glimpse of her features and realized who his visitor was. He stopped, hand tensed directly in front of him, and said, "Give a little warning before you appear."

"He wants to go back," Bianca said without preamble, ignoring Cole's admonishment. "To his death, if that's where it leads. He wants out of his future."

Cole raised an eyebrow. "The sisters have agreed to Lavinia's bargain. We can prevent Wyatt from traveling to the past. We can prevent Wyatt from sending anyone as well."

Bianca gave a half-hearted shrug. "I don't care," she said. "Chris isn't my problem anymore."

Cole was momentarily thrown by her statement. One of the few things he could always count on in this crazy world was Bianca and Chris and their tumultuous but never-ending relationship.

"Oh?" Cole asked finally.

Bianca gave another angry shrug. "He wants only to think of himself and his mission, and that's fine. He can do whatever he wants, and he can deal with the consequences of that."

A piece of the puzzle fell into place and Cole asked cautiously, "Chris remembers, doesn't he?"

Bianca scowled and answered, "Yes, he does."

Cole remained silent for a moment. As usual, Bianca was completely unreadable, but her actions spoke louder than any words or expressions might. She'd come to find him, which meant that she wanted to help Chris return to the past. And that could only mean that she still harbored feelings for the witch-lighter, still wanted to help him.

"Why hasn't he orbed to the Resistance?" Cole demanded, suddenly worried. "Does Wyatt have him imprisoned?"

"Wyatt doesn't know that he remembers," Bianca answered. "As for why he hasn't just orbed to you yet, I don't know. How the hell would I know anything about him anyway?"

Cole sighed. There was obviously no point arguing with her about Chris at the moment. But now that Chris remembered more about his past, it would be easier for them to complete a rescue plan. However… "We're still going to need your help to get Chris away from Wyatt," Cole murmured, giving Bianca a look.

Bianca shrugged. "Fine," she snapped.

"I'll talk to the sisters again," Cole continued, now thinking aloud. "Maybe it would be possible to gain access to the attic. Especially since Chris remembers…"

"I wouldn't count on it," Bianca interjected. "Wyatt is suspicious, he could sense something had changed in Chris. He's going to be keeping a closer eye on both of us."

Cole considered this, then asked, "Can you still get Chris away from Wyatt?"

Bianca hesitated, contemplating the question. "Wyatt won't be able to stop me, but I don't know if Chris will come willingly." Then her expression hardened again and she added, "Not that I care what he does."

"If you didn't care," Cole said softly, "you wouldn't be here right now."

"I just want Chris away from Wyatt," Bianca answered shortly, "so that I can leave as well. As long as Chris is there, I have to stay."

"No," Cole argued, "you don't. You could just leave Chris, let him fend for himself. Let him deal with the repercussions when Wyatt learns the truth. You don't have a responsibility to him." Bianca didn't answer, so Cole pressed, "What would you do if I told you that the sisters hadn't agreed to Lavinia's deal? That it was a lie, and Wyatt would probably kill Chris as soon as he escaped back in time?"

Bianca's gut instinct was to attack Cole for even suggesting something like that. How dare he put Chris' life in danger? But she fought to reign in her instinct, determined to convince herself that Chris no longer mattered to her. They were over, completely done, and nothing was going to change that. Chris would go back to the past to live or die by his own methods, and she would continue to fight for survival in this hell world.

She forced herself to say, "Chris can do whatever he wants. If he wants to die, so be it."

Cole grinned wryly and said, "If that's what you want me to believe…" He let the subject drop, however, and turned his attention to a different problem. "How did you and Chris get into the attic the first time?"

"We walked in," Bianca admitted. "We entered the Museum, then hid in the basement until after it closed, then went up to the attic, drew the triqueta and summoned the Book. As long as you avoid the probes and don't use too much magic, Wyatt won't pick up on it."

Cole nodded. "Maybe I could get the sisters in that way. They could prepare everything, then you and Chris could come with the Book…" He trailed off, thinking, then asked, "If Chris can somehow convince Wyatt that he wants to look at the Book ahead of time, he could copy the spell, and then…"

Bianca exhaled slowly. "Fine," she said ungraciously, her voice still laced with bitter anger. "I can pass the message along to Chris."

* * *

_Wyatt's Apartment, 2025_

"Where's Bianca?" Wyatt asked, stepping into the kitchen. He had sensed her absence the moment she had shimmered away, and that struck him as odd. Why would she had opted to leave Chris alone? Had they had more of a fight than either one was willing to admit?

Chris looked up at Wyatt. He was making a potion, and it struck him suddenly that Wyatt would be a little suspicious of his sudden ability to recall different ingredients and recipes.

"Uh… Bianca went to see if she could find more of something… some kind of root, I don't remember what it is," Chris lied. "She left me with instructions on how to make this stun potion. Does it look right to you?"

Wyatt stood next to Chris and stared at the pot. "You've added the wormwood?" he asked, studying the color and transparency of the mixture. "And the fluxweed. But you haven't added the nettles or the moonstone? Or the ginger root?"

Chris, remembering to feign ignorance about his brother's abilities, said in fake awe, "You can tell that just from looking at the potion?"

Wyatt smiled warmly and said, "You can too, once you remember a bit more about magic."

Chris nodded and looked down at the potion. It was strange to stand next to his brother without the fear of being attacked or killed. Strange to see the way Wyatt looked at him, with a mixture of concern and compassion in his eyes. As long as he did not perceive Chris as a threat to his rule, Wyatt was actually… kind.

Wyatt frowned at Chris' odd behavior and pressed gently, "Did you and Bianca have a fight?"

Chris gave Wyatt a haunted look and said simply, truthfully, "She lied to me. When she told me about the past, about her past… she lied. I didn't know who she was, I didn't know what she was capable of."

"That memory really bothers you, doesn't it?" Wyatt murmured with a sigh. He walked over to the table and sat down, still observing Chris.

"She's an assassin," Chris answered. "It was like she had no emotion, like she didn't even _care_." And he knew that if Wyatt was trying to read his emotions right now, he'd only find feelings that backed up that statement. Bianca _had_ lied to him, and it was as though she didn't care.

"She can't really help being a Phoenix," Wyatt said after a moment. As much as he would have liked to tell Chris that Bianca was a threat, to break her influence over him, he couldn't really take the risk that Chris might remember something contradictory and wonder why Wyatt had lied. Obviously, truth was very important to Chris right now, and he didn't want to make the same mistake Bianca had. Not until he completely turned Chris back to his side.

"You're defending her?" Chris asked, incredulous.

Wyatt smiled grimly. "No, not really. Look, I never liked her. I never liked the fact that you loved her because I thought she was just playing you, using you to get what she wanted. But my opinion didn't change your mind, and you did propose to her. So obviously you loved her."

"Loved," Chris muttered under his breath. "Past tense." He dumped the jar of nettles into the potion and watched as the simmering liquid turned a midnight blue. He stared at the engagement ring still lying on the counter, half-hidden by the jar of ginger root.

How could she have done this to him?

"Look, kid," Wyatt said after another pause, "whatever happens, you know I've got your back, right? I wouldn't lie to you."

Chris turned to face Wyatt, his throat constricting slightly at those words. There was a time when he believed Wyatt would always protect him, always look out for him, always be his older brother. And now, standing next to this older, darker version of his brother, he could still see the little bits of his best friend poking through the icy façade. How could the child he had known be the same person as the man who stood before him now, a monster lying through his teeth and grinning all the while?

It was a boldfaced lie, Chris knew. Not only would Wyatt lie to him whenever it suited his needs, but he already had. Many times.

But he couldn't say that. He couldn't scream at his brother, couldn't call him a liar, a hypocrite. Couldn't say anything at all that might reveal the secret of his regained memories.

"I know, Wy," he said, forcing a smile that did not reach his eyes. "Can you finish this potion for me? I want to…"

Before he could finish whatever he was going to say, Bianca shimmered into the room. She seemed faintly surprised to see Wyatt there, but she took it in stride.

"Did you find the potion ingredient? It was a root of some kind, wasn't it? I tried to tell Wyatt, but I didn't remember the name," Chris asked quickly, giving Bianca a pointed look, hoping she wouldn't blow his cover. He prepared to orb away, just in case…

"Asphodel," Bianca answered without missing a beat. She turned her eyes to Wyatt and said, "You were out of asphodel root. I tried to find some, but the place I usually look for it was filled with witch hunters, and I didn't want to get caught there."

"I could have summoned it for you," Wyatt said suspiciously, giving Bianca a searching look.

"Well, it isn't needed for this stunning potion you wanted me to work on, is it?" Chris interrupted.

"No," Bianca agreed, "it isn't. And, actually, I think there are other herbs you can substitute. We should look in the Book of Shadows, maybe we won't need it at all."

Chris stared blankly at Bianca, shocked. Had she really just provided him with the perfect opening to request to see the Book? Wyatt couldn't possibly turn him down if he wanted to know what it was, not now that Bianca had brought it up. But why would she help him like this?

"What's the Book of Shadows?" Chris inquired, giving Wyatt a look.

"Oh, it's your family heirloom," Bianca replied before Wyatt could. "I forgot that you wouldn't know about it. It's got practically anything you'd ever need to know about magic in it. Especially Halliwell magic."

"That sounds cool," Chris said, looking interested. "Can I see it?"

"Sure," Wyatt replied, "I'll take you to it now." He turned to Bianca and said in a voice of forced calm, "Can you finish the potion Chris' started?"

Bianca walked over to it and nodded. "Sure," she agreed, staring at the potion. "No problem." She could feel Wyatt's eyes still on her, and when she met his gaze for the briefest moment, the look in his eyes sent shivers down her spine. She swallowed and looked away.

The two Halliwell brothers had left the kitchen.

* * *

_Wyatt's apartment, 2025_

Later that evening, Chris walked out onto the landing outside his room and glanced around warily. He and Wyatt had looked through the Book during the afternoon, and he had managed to secretly memorize the time-travel spell. He'd written it down on a scrap of paper as soon as he had been alone, and placed the paper in his pocket. He'd carry it with him everywhere now, waiting for the right opportunity to make his move.

Hearing the rise and fall of voices from the kitchen, he made his way slowly through the apartment until he stood in the shadows right outside the door. He peered into the room, making sure to stay far enough away that he would not be seen by the two occupants.

Wyatt and Bianca were arguing. There had obviously been a fight, because Bianca was rising from a crouched position on the ground, gasping for breath as she stared up at Wyatt. But Wyatt, Chris saw, seemed unsettled as well. Scared. Worried. As though he had suddenly discovered that Bianca might not have been as easily controlled as he thought.

"Tell me where you were," Wyatt ordered furiously.

"How many times do we have to go over this, Wyatt?" Bianca demanded. "I was looking for Asphodel root."

"And it was just a coincidence that when you came back you brought up the Book?" Wyatt said skeptically, the inflection in his voice conveying his doubt.

"I didn't think it through," Bianca said in exasperation. "I don't see why it is such a big deal anyway. So he knows about the Book? He would have remembered it sooner or later."

"I don't believe you," Wyatt growled. Then a smirk of triumph crossed his features and he added, "More importantly, neither does Chris. Whatever memory he saw, he certainly didn't like the person you were in it. He knows you've lied to him, he thinks you've betrayed him."

Bianca crossed her arms over her chest.

"You're going to disappear for a while," Wyatt continued, his tone brooking no arguments. "I'll tell Chris you needed to take care of some family problems. But you are going to leave us."

"Why?" Bianca asked defiantly. "He's my fiancé."

"You are going to leave because I said so," Wyatt answered. "I don't trust you, and I don't want you here using your influence to corrupt Chris. He _will_ join me."

"I am not corrupting him," Bianca countered, and at least she knew that argument was true. She wasn't corrupting him, he had already turned away from Wyatt. He had already realized that he did not want to join with his brother and rule the magical world. It was not her actions that had brought him to that conclusion.

"Do you defy me?" Wyatt hissed in a dangerously low voice. "Do I need to remind you of the dangers of working against me?" As he spoke, he raised one hand, and his fingers glowed with a strange white light. Flames filled the air, wrapping around Bianca's legs, traveling up her torso, consuming her arms.

Chris stared in horror, rooted to the spot, unable to rush out and save her. The flames, he knew, would not kill her. Wyatt mostly used this particular power for tormenting enemies because he could inflict excruciating pain without leaving any physical marks.

Bianca was staring at Wyatt. She did not scream, did not cry out, utter not a single sound. But the pain in her eyes was unbearable for Chris to watch.

Wyatt let the fire dissipate.

"You don't have anywhere to run, do you?" Wyatt said softly. "My darling cousin won't let you back into the Resistance. She kicked you out once, before you had even betrayed them and brought Chris back here. You have nowhere to hide, and you can't outrun me or my demons. You can't escape."

Bianca was shaking, but she refused to break in front of him. Not again.

"Do you remember what those weeks were like while I… _convinced_… you to bring Chris to me?" Wyatt continued, his eyes gleaming dangerously. "You could withstand that little fire-power of mine for a few days, but you were screaming after that first week." He paused, waiting for a moment until Bianca looked up at him, then he said, "You will leave until I call you back. Or I will make you wish you were dead."

Chris shook his head silently, his face still filled with fear and disgust. What had happened to her? What did Wyatt mean when he said that Melinda had kicked her out of the Resistance? What had Wyatt done to her while she was in his captivity? What had he done to make her scream? Had he actually continually summoned that fire?

"You don't scare me," Bianca said brazenly. It wasn't true, Wyatt terrified her, but she said it anyway.

"Of course I do," Wyatt countered with a twisted smile. "Now, I still need to find a way to get the Charmed Ones out of the Resistance and send them back to the time in which they belong, preferably with erased memories. That will take up much of my time, and I'm not leaving you here to baby-sit Chris without my supervision. So, if I catch you here at any point in the next few days, I will kill you on the spot."

Chris frowned, trying to understand what he was hearing. His mother and aunts were here? Had they followed him through the portal? But then they would know about the future. They might even know about him, about who he was. He ran a hand through his hair, worry etched into his features, and turned his attention back to his brother and fiancée.

Wyatt gave one last parting warning. "And Bianca… if you turn Chris against me, I will kill you." He leaned closer to her and added viciously, "And I will kill him."

Then he orbed away.

Bianca glanced at the counter where the engagement ring still lay, untouched by either Chris or Wyatt. She picked it up and, with a sad sigh, slipped it into her pocket, then disappeared in a ripple of air.


	16. ZeroSum

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: Zero-Sum

Zero-sum; a situation in which the gains by one player are equally balanced by the losses of the other player

_Resistance Stronghold, 2023_

_Bianca stood in front of the waterfall, watching as it splashed against the clear pool, casting tiny droplets into the air. Behind her, she could hear the heavy thuds of footsteps on stone, and new that Chris was coming to join her. She was almost tempted to ask how the council meeting had gone, but she also very much did not want to know the answer._

"_You are officially offered sanctuary here," Chris said softly._

_Bianca turned to face him. "I don't want sanctuary," she answered. Her shoulder and neck still throbbed, sore from the brutal fight she had been in before Chris had brought her back here. In retrospect, it had not been the smartest idea to start a fight with those demons, but after years of searching, she had finally found the clan that had killed her mother, and she wasn't about to let them survive._

"_I can't let you go back to Wyatt," Chris protested._

"_That's what I do," Bianca argued. "That's who I am."_

"_An assassin? A spy?" Chris shook his head. He wasn't entirely sure why he wanted her here. After all, she'd used him once to gain access to the Resistance. How did he know she wasn't simply playing him again, planning to bring Wyatt's demons here at the first available moment._

_And yet, somehow, he trusted her._

_Bianca shrugged. "I'm not wanted here, Chris, and can you really blame them?" She gestured towards the doors that lead into the council chambers. "They have no reason to trust me. I don't belong here."_

_The artificial sun beat down on them, causing small beads of sweat to appear on her forehead and the back of her neck._

"_Yes, you do," Chris said, taking her in his arms. "You can help us. You can spy on Wyatt. You can gain more information than…"_

_Bianca pulled away from him quickly and shook her head. "No." She hesitated, then added, "My family still works for him, Chris. If I betray Wyatt, I betray my clan. I can't… you can't ask me to do that."_

"_But think about everything that we could gain," Chris murmured._

_Bianca stared at him for a long moment, then asked, "Why do your gains have to come at the expense of my family?"_

* * *

_Wyatt's Apartment, 2025_

Chris sat on his bed, lost in his own thoughts. He couldn't quite shake the feeling that he had somehow made a horrible mistake in refusing to listen to Bianca's pleas. At first, when he had remembered all of his past and realized what she had done, he couldn't find it in himself to forgive her. But after hearing what Wyatt had said…

Shouldn't he have known that something drastic would have happened to force her to betray him like this?

He rubbed his eyes wearily. If Melinda had truly kicked Bianca out of the Resistance, and if Wyatt had really had her captured for weeks… He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about what Bianca might have been forced to endure.

And he didn't want to think about the feelings that welled up inside him, the anger and hatred and fear and love. His heart was still screaming at her betrayal, but now guilt was overwhelming everything else, reminding him that maybe there was more to the story and maybe she really didn't have a choice.

But she was gone. It was evident from the conversation he had overheard the night before that Bianca had taken Wyatt's threat seriously and had decided to make herself scare. Wyatt had only told her to leave, though, and hadn't sent demons to spy on her, which meant that he must still trust her a little. Or, at least, trust that she wouldn't do anything stupid while Chris remained at his brother's mercy.

Wyatt's cold threat to Bianca, that he would kill Chris if she tried to turn him, still echoed in Chris' mind. He could tell by the tone of Wyatt's voice and the fear in Bianca's eyes that they both knew it was not an idle threat. And Bianca obviously had no intention of risking his life.

He wanted… needed… to talk to her.

But he couldn't. That much was also obvious. If he pressed the issue to strongly, Wyatt would get suspicious, and both he and his fiancée would be in danger. No, he would have to go along with whatever Wyatt chose to tell him. It was not unusual for Phoenixes to visit each other if something was wrong, and so it was not strange that Bianca might have needed to drop everything to help her family.

He turned his thoughts to the other part of the conversation that was worrying him. Wyatt had mentioned that the Charmed Ones were here, in this time. They must have followed him, wanting to bring him back. He wasn't sure why they would do that, but there was no other explanation.

At least they were with the Resistance. They would be safe there.

But he would still somehow need to get to them, to guide them back to the Manor so that they could all travel through the portal to the past together.

He touched the folded piece of paper, the time travel spell that he had taken from the Book.

There wasn't a good way to get in touch with the Resistance. It was possible that someone like Cole would be in the Underworld, but how could he convince Wyatt that he wanted to leave on his own and not raise his brother's suspicion?

If he returned to the past, then Wyatt would know that Bianca had betrayed him, and he would kill her. But if he chose to try to save Bianca, then Wyatt would become more suspicious, and it would prevent Chris from gaining access to the Nexus. If he did what he wanted to do, what was best for him, Bianca would suffer. But if he tried to save her, he would give up the chance to save himself.

_If you save Wyatt, Bianca won't have ever had to endure any of this_, a little voice in his head said.

_But is that a chance you are really willing to take? What if you can't succeed? What if Wyatt turns evil anyway? Then you will have sacrificed the love of your life for nothing_, another voice argued in response.

He could save Wyatt. He knew he could, but… Could he really sacrifice Bianca? Could he turn his back on her when she probably needed him the most?

But could he turn his back on Wyatt? On the world?

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

She knew that the moment she entered the Resistance Stronghold, Melinda would know and the entire council would come running to vanquish her. But she needed to speak to Cole, and she couldn't wait for him to venture into the Underworld again. She was running out of time, they all were, and Wyatt was a force to be reckoned with when he became suspicious of someone.

Cole looked up from where he was standing in the library. He had an open book in his hands, and several more piled on the table next to him. He seemed surprised to see her, but the surprise was quickly replaced by concern.

"What are you doing here? What if Wyatt finds out?" Cole asked, dropping the book onto the table and glancing around worriedly.

Bianca shrugged. "He's suspicious of me already," she answered calmly, unwilling to let her fear show through. "But Chris has the time travel spell. How quickly can Lavinia put the time ban in place?"

Cole frowned, concerned by this sudden hastening of the plan, but decided not to question it. "Tonight, I guess," he said. Gesturing to the books, he added, "I've been reading up a little on time travel because she's going to need my help."

"How difficult is it going to be?" Bianca asked.

Cole gave a sigh and answered, "Pretty tricky, actually. Lavinia said she can handle the ceremony, but it is going to need to be done after Chris and the sisters go through the portal and before Wyatt has a chance to follow them back."

"The minute Chris says the spell to open the portal, Wyatt is going to know," Bianca replied, letting out a hiss of frustration. "How long do we need to hold him off?"

"Just a minute or so," Cole answered.

Bianca opened her mouth to say something else, but at that moment Henry, Melinda, Max, Rhodin, Greg, and the three Charmed Ones all appeared in a swirl of orbs. Melinda raised her hand to attack Bianca, and Rhodin conjured a burst of energy, but Piper was quicker. She flicked her wrists, blowing up the Phoenix who had betrayed her son and brought him back to this hellish future.

Cole just stared at Piper in dismay as Bianca scattered into thousands of tiny black dots. After a moment, the dots reappeared and swirled together, condensing into the assassin witch once more.

Bianca conjured an energy ball of her own and said softly, "That wasn't very nice."

Piper blinked. "You can reform?" she asked, incredulous.

Melinda lowered her hands, and nodded for Rhodin to do the same. The Elder seemed less inclined to agree, but he followed her example for the moment. They both still eyed Bianca with some suspicion and reservation.

"Things have changed," Bianca said, turning her attention to Melinda. "We need to move up the time scale. The Charmed Ones and Chris need to leave tonight."

Melinda hesitated, torn, then said softly, "It's three in the afternoon. The museum closes in two hours. This is happening… fast."

Bianca swallowed. "I can't help it," she defended herself. Jerking her head towards the Charmed Ones, she said, "They need to get there before it closes. If we don't do this tonight, it might be too late for Chris."

"So now we trust her?" Piper asked angrily, turning to glare at Melinda. "She _betrayed_ Chris."

"It's funny how much you care now that you know who he is," Bianca observed mildly. "Guess you really only did love him because he was family."

"How dare you?" Piper snarled, whirling to face Bianca. Her anger, however, was merely a façade to suppress the guilt that she felt at Bianca's words. The assassin had hit a nerve, and Piper did not want to contemplate the truth behind the accusation.

At the same time, Cole said in a gently reprimanding tone, "Bianca, don't start."

"Piper, put your hands down," Greg said tensely, watching as the oldest Charmed One seemed ready to attack Bianca again. "Arguing and throwing insults is not going to get us anywhere. We need to focus on Chris."

"I don't trust her, Aunt Piper," Melinda cut in, and Piper started a little at being addressed as an aunt. "But I trust that she loves Chris," Melinda continued. Giving Bianca a searching look, she demanded, "How did you and Chris get to the attic last time?"

"You can go in with everyone else," Bianca replied. She glanced at the Charmed Ones and added, "They'll need to be more careful, though, because they are easily recognizable. And they can't glamour. Use as little magic as possible."

"So what do they do once they are in the museum?" Rhodin inquired.

Bianca ran a hand through her hair. "You're going to need to avoid the probes," she said, quickly running through the list of dangers in her mind. "Chris was able to divert them last tine with his telekinesis. But you can't use too much of it, or the probes will sense the magic."

"None of us have telekinesis," Phoebe pointed out. She could feel the tension in the room, but since Melinda had obviously decided to trust Bianca for the moment, she was not going to go against her daughter's decision. "Paige could orb it away, but I think someone would notice if the probe was suddenly consumed by orbs."

"I have telekinesis," Max said softly. "I'll go."

"It's too dangerous," Melinda insisted immediately. "I have telekinesis, I'll go."

"Too risky," Cole objected. "I think we should try to keep it to as few Halliwells as possible. You are too easily recognizable as well."

"I agree," Rhodin said. "Besides, we can't take the risk that you might get hurt or captured by Wyatt. We need you here to lead."

Cole looked skeptically at Rhodin, as though he wasn't quite sure whether or not they actually did need Melinda to lead Resistance. But, he reflected, she seemed a bit more open-minded now, as though his words to her had somehow gotten through. Perhaps she would be a better leader once she realized that she was not invincible, and she did not always know best.

"Okay, so what do we do after Max takes care of the probes?" Greg asked, injecting before anyone could object to Rhodin's words. He had seen the look on Cole's face, and the last thing they needed right now was any sort of argument.

"When you get to the kitchen," Bianca said, "stay behind the others. Pretend to be looking at something. One of Wyatt's demons will come out and tell you to keep moving. Vanquish him, then go to the basement. Hide there until the museum closes."

"Would it be a good idea to attack Wyatt's other demons this evening?" Henry asked. "Go to the Underworld? Maybe distract Wyatt so that he doesn't realize what is going on?"

"No," Bianca answered automatically. "If you try that, he'll know we are up to something. He'll know it is supposed to be a distraction. No, we have to do this entirely on our own."

"Okay," Henry agreed.

Bianca looked around again, then said, "I need to keep moving. If Wyatt figures out that I came here…" She trailed off and didn't finish the statement. Instead, she turned to Cole and said, "Figure out whatever you need to about keeping Wyatt from time-traveling until Lavinia can finish the ban." Flicking her eyes at Max, she said coldly, "I'll give you guys one hour. Chris and I are showing up in the attic at six, and everything had better be ready to go."

And without another word, she shimmered away.

"I don't like this," Henry said the moment Bianca was gone. "It's too fast. We're not prepared."

"We don't really have much of a choice," Cole pointed out dryly. He walked over to the table still piled with books and sank into one of the chairs. "Wyatt's probably getting suspicious. Chris remembers everything now, so he's probably getting anxious as well."

"Wait, Chris remembers? When did that happen?" Rhodin demanded, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the nearest stack of books.

Cole ran a hand over the back of his neck. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "It is a recent development, I guess. Bianca only told me last night."

"I don't understand, why would he suddenly remember everything?" Henry pressed. "I thought he was only remembering things in bits and pieces, and over a long period of time."

"Maybe Wyatt found a way to restore them?" Max suggested, but Rhodin immediately shook his head.

"Wyatt stands to gain nothing and lose everything from a move like that," the Elder replied reasonably. "He wouldn't do it."

"Maybe it was just time for him to get them back," Melinda offered. Things happened for a reason, and maybe whatever the reason behind Chris' amnesia was now gone, and he was able to recall what had been forgotten.

"What happens when Wyatt shows up tonight?" Greg murmured, drawing the conversation away from Chris' memories. As interesting as it would have been to discuss the effects of Chris' amnesia and then subsequent remembering, they had more pressing concerns.

"Bianca and I will hold him off until the three of them and Chris get through the portal," Max answered, nodding to the Charmed Ones.

"That's suicide," Melinda murmured, shaking her head, clearly not wanting anything to happen to Max.

"Bianca's a skilled fighter," Cole answered, trying his best to reassure Melinda. "She can hold off Wyatt long enough, and Max should still be able to escape and return here safely."

It took only a few seconds for Melinda to realize she was receiving assurance from a demon, and the grateful smile that had been on her lips slipped into a frown. But instead of the sarcastic or cutting comment that would have usually fallen from her mouth, she simply gave Cole a hard stare and a short nod of the head.

"Wyatt is powerful," Henry mused. "Do you really think Bianca can hold him off?"

"Yes," Cole said firmly, not because he believed it so strongly, but because he needed to believe it. Right now, this entire plan was riding on her ability to keep Chris safe until he was in a different time. He only hoped she was strong enough to do that.

"I will leave the three of you to speak to Cole, to go over all the parts of this plan," Rhodin said, turning to the Charmed Ones. "Melinda, Henry, Greg, Max, and I will meet briefly with the rest of the council to explain what is happening so that everyone is prepared for whatever the outcome may be."

"But I…" Phoebe looked at Melinda, wanting to say something, wanting to speak to her daughter. Melinda stared back uncomfortably, and then lowered her eyes. "I wanted a chance to talk…" Phoebe ventured.

"Me, too," Paige agreed, her gaze on Henry. "We didn't even get the chance to know you."

"Save the future and you'll have that chance," Henry answered. Melinda placed her hand on Henry's arm, signaling that he should orb the two of them away, but he hesitated, still looking at Paige. His face was filled with longing, wanting to remember the mother who had died so long ago.

"Henry, you need to go," Cole said, drawing the witch-lighter's annoyed gaze.

"Hey, he can stay and talk to us if he wants," Paige snapped, narrowing her eyes at Cole. "He's _my_ son."

Greg, sensing that this was not an argument he wanted to be in the middle of, took Max by the arm and orbed the two of them away. Rhodin soon followed, leaving the Charmed Ones alone with the half-demon and their future children.

"Yes, he is," Cole agreed in a tone of forced calm, "but your nephew's life is in danger as we speak, so we need to focus on saving him and hopefully the entire world."

"He's right," Melinda agreed, and it sounded strange to hear her agree with Cole. Both Melinda and Cole started, and Henry had a slightly amused look on his face. Melinda recovered her composure quickly, however, and hurried on, "Saving the world is more important than anything else." She shot Henry a look, and he nodded reluctantly. Melinda turned back to Cole and said, "We'll return as soon as the council is updated."

Gripping his cousin's arm tightly, Henry orbed them away.

"Enjoying preventing us from seeing our children?" Paige snarled, her rage now fixed on Cole.

"Contrary to popular belief," Cole answered through clenched teeth, "I do not build my life around tormenting the three of you."

"They are our _children_," Phoebe protested. "We have a right to see them."

"And would you sacrifice Chris for that right?" Cole asked, his eyes burning into Phoebe's with a questioning glower. "Chris is trying to save the world, and you have fought him every step of the way." He shoved his hands into his pockets and regarded them all with open contempt. "You could claim that you didn't know who he was, although even that is not a total justification for your complete disregard for our future. But you know who he is now, so you are out of excuses. He has sacrificed everything… _we've all_ sacrificed everything… for the chance to live in a better place. Life isn't fair and it isn't easy, but we've been given another chance to get things right this time. Don't screw it up."

Piper nodded slowly, her anger fading as she realized the truth in Cole's words. Phoebe and Paige seemed more inclined to argue with him, but Piper gave them both sharp stares, and they remained silent.

Cole glanced at the spot where Melinda and Henry had stood and said in a softer tone, "The world will always be more important than your family. Henry and Melinda have accepted that, and you need to as well."

"Have they… has it been hard for them?" Phoebe asked. She flushed at Cole's incredulous look and clarified, "I mean… harder than it needs to be, given the time they live in."

Cole gave a half-shrug. "They've lost their entire family. It's not easy but… I know it may not seem like it, but I do care for Melinda. She is a good person… sometimes. She has a lot of… well, the potential to be amazing…" He paused thoughtfully, then added, "And Henry is amazing as well."

"Didn't think you'd get along better with Paige's kid than with Phoebe's," Piper sniped. "Unless you are just upset that Melinda isn't your daughter."

Cole bit back the urge to say he would have made a much better father than Phoebe's husband. Instead, he said firmly, "Let's just go over this plan again. I still have time ban ceremony to worry about and a funeral to plan."

That caught Piper's attention, and she demanded, "Who's dying?"

"Bianca," Cole replied with a grimace, and he picked up one of the books in front of him. He rose and opened the book at the same time.

"You're killing her?" Paige asked in confusion. "I thought you liked Bianca?"

"I do," Cole agreed, "but I'm not the one who is going to kill her." He flipped through a few of the pages in the book then stopped, his forehead creased in concentration. "Time bans are complex," he said, changing the subject. "This is going to be tricky."

"Lavinia can do it, right?" Piper asked, growing concerned. She did not want Wyatt to follow them back in time. She didn't want to be faced with the evil that was her oldest son. She would never be able to fight him, but from everything she had heard, that wouldn't stop _him_ from fighting _her_.

"Yes," Cole answered. He slanted a look at Piper and added, "But if you vanquish Orexio when you get back, that will break the time ban. Lavinia's not stupid, she'll have set it up so that the two events are intertwined."

"Okay," Piper agreed, wondering what they would do if Orexio continued to attack them.

"I don't understand," Paige cut in, still thinking about Cole's earlier words. "Who is going to kill Bianca? And how do you know, anyway? You don't have the power of premonition."

"No, I don't," Cole said. "It's a pity, really. I would have liked to be able to predict the future."

"You didn't answer my question," Paige snapped.

Cole looked at her for a moment, then said, "Going up against Wyatt is suicide. Even if Bianca manages to miraculously escape the fight that will occur in the attic, Wyatt will still hunt her down. She betrayed him too many times for him to let her go. She'll do whatever she can to keep the three of you and Chris safe, maybe even help Max make it back to the Resistance, but she's pretty much doomed. I know that, Melinda and Henry know that, even Bianca knows it."

"If she knows it, why is she still doing this?" Piper breathed, confused. The thought of Bianca dying did not upset her too much, but she knew it would be devastating for Chris. He loved the Phoenix, and her death would tear him apart.

"Because she loves him," Cole answered as though it was obvious. "Because, given the situation they are in right now, only one of them can survive, and Bianca will make sure that it is Chris." He gave Piper a sympathetic look and added, "Chris will be… broken. He loves her more than even he is willing to admit. You have to be there for him. You have to help him with this. And you have to keep refusing to be pushed away, because he's not going to want to talk about it."

"You seem to know quite a bit about my son," Piper commented.

Cole shrugged. "I'm the only parental figure they've had for a very long time. Like I told Melinda, I am part of your family." For a moment, he was silent, his expression clearly torn. Then he said, "You three were amazing women. You grew out of this… arrogant, immature stage you are in now…"

"Hey!" the three of them protested in unison.

"…and you became wonderful people, wonderful mothers," Cole continued as though he had not heard their interruption. "I know that it isn't easy to tell from Melinda and Henry's reactions to your presence here, but they do love you. As does Chris and… even Wyatt, in his own twisted way. Remember that. I know that whatever battles you have ahead of you in trying to save Wyatt… well, they won't be easy. But just remember… you guys were happy, for a time. The world was happy, and it can be like that again. If you're willing to fight for it."

"When did you get so wise?" Paige grumbled.

"When the three of you died and I had to figure out a way to fill your shoes," Cole answered honestly. His gaze lingered on Phoebe and with a sad smile he said, "They weren't easy shoes to fill."


	17. Homeward Bound

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: Homeward Bound

_Halliwell Memorial Museum, 2024_

"_What do I tell them?" Chris asked as he pushed the door open and stepped into the attic room. His eyes moved quickly through the familiar place, scanning for any sign of danger._

"_Don't tell them anything," Bianca cautioned. "Just stick to your cover story. The less they know about the future, the better." She said the words grimly, because they both knew exactly how the Charmed Ones would react to the knowledge that the world had been destroyed by one of their own._

"_But… what if they find out who I am?" Chris murmured, shaking his head. Could he do it, could he face them if they knew the truth? Could he see the people that he had idolized, the women that he loved, and not fall apart? If he could distance himself from them, make sure that he kept Piper separate from Mom, then maybe he could survive this._

_Maybe._

_But if they found out the truth…_

"_They won't," Bianca assured him. "Not if you can pass yourself off as their white-lighter."_

"_And you're sure I won't lose my powers when I go back?" Chris questioned. He couldn't afford to lose them, to be a helpless mortal. Not if he was to have any chance of saving Wyatt._

"_Not with this spell," Bianca said firmly. "That's why we need it." She hesitated, giving her fiancée a long look, then said, "Just remember, protect baby Wyatt and you protect the Charmed Ones. Keep them alive for our future." If the Charmed Ones were still alive, still strong, they could keep Wyatt from turning into this monster. They could save the world._

"_Hmm…" Chris responded wearily, "no pressure there."_

"_Chris, baby, you're the only one who can do this," Bianca said softly, gently. "The only one who can save us."_

"_If I make it back safely…"_

_Bianca's eyes glittered somewhat suggestively as she leaned in to murmur, "Baby, you have to make it back safely. If you want to marry me." She reached up, caressing his face with one hand and, balanced on her tiptoes, leaned in to kiss him._

_After a moment, Chris broke the kiss and looked down at her, a smile tugging at his lips. "You sure know how to motivate a guy, you know that?"_

_Bianca laughed, then linked her fingers through his and pulled him towards the podium where the Book used to stand. She stared down at the hologram, waving her hand through it, and asked with a touch of concern, "Are you sure you can summon the real one?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Away from him?"_

"_Yes," Chris said again, his word emphatic. Then he added, "But we won't have much time. His demons will be all over it."_

"_We won't need much time," Bianca answered. "Just long enough to send you back to them."_

* * *

_Resistance Stronghold, 2025_

The room was empty except for Henry, who sat at the table flipping through the pages of a potions recipe book. He was frowning slightly, concentrating on the various entries, and didn't hear the gentle thud of footsteps on the floor behind him until Paige was standing at his side.

Henry pushed the book away and stood up quickly. "I didn't hear you come…" he said by way of explanation.

"Cole said you might be here," Paige replied, although it wasn't actually an answer to his comment. "We need to leave in a little bit and I wanted to… say goodbye, I guess."

Henry swallowed. "I… uh… well, it isn't really good bye. I mean, if you save the future, then… you'll see my again. I hope." He leaned against the table and changed the subject, unable to bear the way Paige was looking at him with longing and hope. "Did you go over the plan?"

"Several times," Paige answered. "Cole and Daryl kept drilling it into our heads."

"We just don't want anything to happen to Chris. He's… he's important, you know? He can save Wyatt."

Paige pursed her lips. "You're all important," she argued, not liking her son's tone of voice. How could he think of himself as less important than the others?

"Not really," Henry answered with a shrug. His words were blunt, and not intended to seek his mother's pity or concern. He was merely stating the facts as he saw them. "I mean… Wyatt is important because he's currently screwing up the world. And Chris is important because he's the one who can save us. But the rest of us… well, anything to ensure that the world is saved. It's so much more important than… any one single person. We're all really expendable, when you think about it."

"You aren't expendable to me," Paige countered. "I… you're my son."

"Not yet," Henry answered, averting his eyes. He looked down at his own hands as he heard Paige's slow intake of breath. He wondered how much those two words had hurt her.

"Yes, you are," Paige countered. "Motherhood doesn't change just because someone is in a different time. I… you're _mine_. I love you."

That brought a smile to Henry's lips, and he asked, "How can you? You don't even know me."

Paige sat down and leaned back against the chair, and Henry slowly followed suit. For a moment, she just looked at him, memorizing his features. "Do you look like your father?" Paige asked suddenly. "Because you don't really look as much like me."

Henry winced at the mention of his father. He seemed almost on the verge of tears, and Paige wondered instantly what she had done wrong. Although she knew that any mention of deceased parents would hurt him, he had not reacted this strongly to the mentions of any of the other deaths.

Henry crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, I do look a lot like Dad."

"I'm sorry," Paige said softly, reaching out and resting a hand on Henry's arm. "I didn't realize that bringing up your father would cause you this much pain. I shouldn't have…"

"He was the last to die," Henry said, staring blankly at the far wall, remembering that fateful day. "He and Aunt Phoebe died at the same time… I remember him the best, you know? Because he was there more than anyone else, because he lived longer…" He looked at Paige and shook his head. "You were the first to die. Well… after Uncle Leo, that is."

Paige withdrew her arm, lines creasing her forehead as she absorbed what Henry had said. "Should you really be telling me all this?" she asked in a slightly teasing tone. "I mean… future consequences and all."

Henry hid a grin at his mother's words, then said calmly, "Probably not. So, I guess you probably shouldn't mention any part of this conversation to Chris."

Paige nodded in mock seriousness, her eyes sparkling with laughter. For a moment, the gravity of the situation was forgotten, and she felt like any other mother spending a few quality moments with her son.

Henry's next words brought her falling back to earth.

"If Aunt Phoebe is trying to have this same conversation with Melinda, she's not going to get anywhere."

Paige lifted one eyebrow.

Henry didn't explain right away, but seemed instead to be choosing his words carefully. When he spoke, his tone was even and measured. "Like I said, Aunt Phoebe was one of the last to die. Melinda… it's hard for her. Because she can remember what it was like to have her mother her. She can remember…" He trailed off and didn't finish the sentence.

"And you can't remember me?" Paige prompted with a sinking heart.

"Not really," Henry admitted. "I know all the stories about you," he said thoughtfully. "Aunt Phoebe and Dad told them all the time. But… I was only five when you died and…" He stopped, coming to his senses, and said quickly, "Too much information. I really shouldn't be telling you this. Or Chris might actually kill me."

"I want to know," Paige countered.

"But wanting to know isn't enough," Henry retorted. He looked down at the book still on the table in front of him. "We don't want to change things, make them worse."

"How could this possibly get worse?" Paige asked before she could stop herself.

Henry gave her a haunted look and answered, "It can always get worse." Then he pushed back in his chair and rose to his feet, disappearing in a rush of orbs.

"That went well," a voice said sarcastically, and Paige spun around to see Daryl leaning on the doorframe, regarding her with an amused expression.

"I wanted to say goodbye to my son," Paige defended herself, rising to her feet.

Daryl nodded. "I know. And I am sure Henry was glad that you said goodbye to him."

"Didn't really seem like it," Paige answered truthfully. "I mean… I guess it could have gone worse, but it certainly didn't go well."

"Henry barely remembers you," Daryl answered. "But, even if he can't say it aloud quite yet, he was pleased to get the chance to meet you. He loves you, even though he doesn't remember you so well. Just like you love him, even though you didn't know who he was before this unplanned trip to the future."

"You know a lot about my son."

"I do," Daryl agreed.

"How is Daryl Jr.?" Paige asked as she walked out of the room with Daryl, feeling a bit more cheerful due to his reassurances. Although she did not like the fact that her son didn't even remember her that well, she couldn't help but feel proud of the way he had turned out. With or without her guiding influence, he had grown up into quite a fine young man.

"Almost completely recovered and back to his usual self," Daryl answered. "He wanted me to say goodbye to all of you for him."

Paige ran a hand through her hair. "We're going to fix this, Daryl. We're going to create a better future."

Daryl smiled. "I'm counting on it."

* * *

_Resistance Library, 2025_

"We don't have time to talk, Phoebe. You need to be thinking about the plan," Melinda said brusquely as she returned two discarded books to their shelves.

"Just a few minutes," Phoebe argued, refusing to let her expression display her frustration.

Melinda barely spared her mother a glance. "We don't have a few minutes. In this world, a few minutes is the difference between life and death."

Phoebe narrowed her eyes as a wash of Melinda's emotions passed through her. "What are you so afraid of?" she asked gently, coaxingly.

Melinda gave her mother a cold stare and said, "Chris dying. Max dying. The three of you not making it back to your own time and instead ending up in Wyatt's hands. The world going to hell. Take your pick."

Phoebe stepped back, giving her daughter more room. "Do you hate me?"

Melinda spun around and glared at her mother. "This version of you… I don't even know. You are not my mother. You did not tuck me into bed, you did not read stories to me, you did not teach me my first spells or how to control my powers. You are not her."

"Then why are you so afraid?" Phoebe whispered.

Melinda didn't answer.

"Come on, Melinda. Talk to me."

"I spoke to Max a few moments ago," Melinda said calmly, turning away from her mother and continuing to clear books from the table. "He reminded me that they show a holograph of the reuniting of the Charmed Ones. That's probably your biggest threat right now."

"What?" Phoebe asked, blinking in confusion.

"In the Halliwell Memorial Museum," Melinda explained, and she spat out the name of the museum as thought it was dirt. "The tour guide shows a holograph of you, Piper, and Paige being reunited… reforming the Charmed Ones. That will be the most dangerous moment because someone might recognize you from it."

"But won't people recognize us from other things? If we are really so well known?"

Melinda smirked. "You are in all the history books," she agreed, and then she stopped. She carefully replaced the book on the shelf, giving her time to think over her words, before explaining, "People know what you look like, but they also know that you are dead. So they won't expect to see you. And you'd be surprised just how oblivious and unobservant people are when they don't expect to see what is right in front of them."

Phoebe thought of Chris, of all the little clues they should have picked up on, and nodded.

"But when you confront people with that holograph… well, the image will be in the forefront of their minds, someone might notice… just be careful. We can't afford mistakes."

"It's been my experience that every successful plan has to have room for improvisation because things usually do go wrong," Phoebe argued.

"It's been my experience that when things go wrong, people usually die," Melinda snapped back.

Phoebe thought of the future version of herself and her sisters, of Leo and Henry's father, of Melinda's sister and cousins, and nodded again. It was a different world.

But she wasn't going to give up.

"So… do you hate the future version of me?"

Melinda crossed her arms over her chest and licked dry lips. A small burning sensation spread through her eyes, but she forced the tears away and said in an even voice, "I wasn't there when you died. Chris was, but he was the only one who survived. I… You were the last of the adults, and you died."

"Your father wasn't around?" Phoebe pressed.

Melinda's eyes darkened instantly, and she said bitterly, "Dad hasn't been part of my family for a while."

"I'm sorry," Phoebe murmured, wondering once again how she could have chosen someone who would just abandon his family, his children, when everything got difficult.

Melinda gave a cruel smirk and said, "Yeah, well… Chris isn't the only one with Daddy-problems."

"We're going to fix all this, Melinda. I'll be alive in the future. I won't die."

Melinda tilted her head to the side and regarded her mother. "Don't make promises you can't keep," she said bluntly, then she pushed past Phoebe and walked towards the library exit.

Phoebe started to go after her, but a hand wrapped around her arm and pulled her back, and she found herself staring at Cole instead. The half-demon had obviously been listening to at least part of the conversation, and his face was solemn and stern.

"Let her go, Phoebe. She's having a hard enough time as it is, she doesn't need this from you."

"Don't tell me what to do," Phoebe protested angrily, annoyed that Cole kept interfering in her life. "Melinda is my daughter…"

"Honestly, when are any of you going to get it through your thick skulls that the world doesn't revolve around you?" Cole demanded impatiently, clearly tired of this line of argument. "I am so fed up with your incessant selfishness. Can't you see that your departure is hurting Henry and Melinda just as much as it hurts you?"

Phoebe huffed and retorted in a wounded voice, "It doesn't seem to hurt Melinda that much." She gestured in the direction her daughter had gone, and Cole glanced that way as well. "She doesn't even want to be around me."

Cole shook his head. "You married a jerk who could never see past his own needs." Tilting his head to one side, he amended, "Of course, I might be a little biased on that one." Phoebe glowered at him, but he continued confidently, "So Melinda hasn't really had a parental figure in a very long time. She doesn't know how to relate to her mother anymore."

"So she's just nervous?" Phoebe asked skeptically. "That doesn't even make sense."

"She's not nervous, she's hurt," Cole explained. He paused, hoping that Phoebe would accept what he was saying and leave the matter alone, but she kept staring at him with those big eyes that begged for sympathy, and he felt his resolve unwinding just a little. "She loves you, and it's hard to see someone you love who has been gone for so long, especially when you know that you are about to lose them again." He glanced again in the direction Melinda had gone. "Defense mechanisms are a wonderful thing."

"So she's hurting me to help herself?" Phoebe snapped.

"Look, Melinda's scared and exhausted and hurt. This world does that to people, it eats away at their soul. You're expecting a daughter who can say what she feels and isn't afraid of her emotions and doesn't have to constantly look over her shoulder and wonder how her actions will affect the lives of everyone else. And maybe you would have gotten that in a different world, in a different time, but not in this one. And none of this will change just because you showed up, just because you want it to. You need to accept what Melinda can give you instead of asking for what she can't. She loves you, and she expresses that in her own way. Take it for what it is, and stop demanding more."

There was a moment of silence as the empath absorbed this. "Why did I even marry my future husband if he was such a jerk?" Phoebe muttered, more to herself than to Cole.

But Cole took the chance to answer cockily and with a wide grin, "Because you were still reeling from the realization that you and I were over and you'd lost your soul mate, so you settled for the first cute guy who proposed."

It was too soon for Phoebe to ever accept the idea that she could love Cole again, and he knew it. So she started slightly, as he expected, and gave him another glare, before stomping away.

It was the last this version of Cole would ever see of her, and he knew it. Part of him wanted to run after her and confess his undying love, beg her forgiveness for everything he had done wrong. The other part of him watched her go with a sense of relief, knowing his life might be less happy, but it would also be less heart-wrenching, without her to complicate everything.

Then he let out a long sigh and said to the empty room, "Melinda's not the only one who is going to miss you, Phoebe."

* * *

_Resistance Council Chambers, 2025_

"He's going to hate me," Piper murmured, confiding her darkest worries to the white-lighter who walked beside her as she paced back and forth across the floor of the long room.

"No, he won't," Greg countered. They'd been having the same repetition of this exchange for the past fifteen minutes, but Piper couldn't seem to move past her fears that Chris would hate her, and Greg didn't know how to convince her otherwise. It was ironic, in a way, because the older, wiser, sadder version of Piper, the one with whom he'd fallen in love, was a version that he could talk to endlessly, about anything, and never worry that their communication would somehow get muddled.

Now he was stuck in this cycle of awkward words.

"Greg, you don't understand, I've been so…" Piper froze, eyes widening, and said in horror as she remembered an earlier occurrence, "I blew up a vase just to terrify him! I threaten to do the same to him. He'll never forgive me."

Greg frowned and didn't say anything.

"Phoebe and Paige are saying goodbye to Henry and Melinda," Piper said suddenly, deviated from the previous cycle of only talking about Chris.

"I figured they would want to do that," Greg replied, although he was unsure if it was a wise idea. Melinda would not respond well to any attempts at conversation by Phoebe, but Henry at least might open up to Paige.

Piper nodded slowly, then asked hesitantly, "Can you tell me what it was like, having Wyatt and Chris. I mean, before… Wyatt turned."

Greg narrowed his eyes as he thought about the question. He didn't want to say too much, but he also couldn't heartlessly refuse Piper's request. "They were a handful, I'll tell you that. Two magical boys."

Piper smiled weakly at his comment, trying to imagine what it would be like to have not just Wyatt to worry about, to faun over, to watch grow up. "Were we happy?"

"For a time. Chris and Wyatt loved you very, very much."

"And us?" Piper asked, wondering if she really wanted to know the answer. She lifted her eyes to Greg, both eyebrows lifted questioningly. "Were _we_ happy?"

Greg looked torn as he asked, "How much exactly do you know about you and me?"

"Only what Phoebe told me you had said and what I gleaned from others. You and I started dating after Leo…" she choked over the word, surprised at how much the thought of Leo's passing hurt her, "died."

"We were happy," Greg consented finally, "but never as happy as you were when you were with Leo."

"We're divorced now," Piper said quietly. "Chris… he arranged for that. Why would he split up his own parents, why would he…?"

"I don't think he meant to," Greg replied, glad at least that he could reassure her on this point. "From what I gather, he just needed Leo out of the way so that he could become your white-lighter. And with everything he wanted to do, he couldn't very well let Leo watch over him constantly either. You and Leo breaking up… that was probably an unplanned side-effect."

Piper didn't say anything for a moment. Finally, she asked with frank curiosity, "Do you think I belong with Leo?"

And Greg answered just as honestly, "Yes."

Piper ran a hand through her hair and wondered if she hadn't already known the answer to that question all along. Sure, it had been easy to be mad at Leo in the beginning, to hate the fact that he could become an Elder and leave her behind, but after seeing this world, could she really stay mad at him? No matter what she might have said to Chris earlier that year, there was a bigger picture than her family, especially when the world was crumbling around her. Leo was a source of pure goodness, and he could guide the world, watch over it. Could she deny him, and all of humanity, that chance?

She loved him, with all her heart and all her soul, and somehow, they would make this work.

They always did.

Greg stiffened abruptly and frowned, eyebrows coming together, forehead creasing.

"What is it?" Piper demanded worriedly.

Greg gave her an unreadable look and answered, "It's Max. He says it's time to go."

* * *

_Halliwell Memorial Museum, 2025_

"Welcome to the Halliwell Memorial Museum," the tour guide said with a smile as she lead the small group into the foyer. "Remember that there is no digi-capturing, no holographing, and especially no magic while inside the museum. That's a big one." She gave the forced, fake smile of someone who has been at this job for too long and no longer finds it interesting.

A mechanical whirling sound filled the air, and people shifted uneasily as the probes came into view.

The tour guide gave an even wider smile and said cheerfully, "Don't mind the probes, folks, they're just scanning for witches." A murmur ran through the crowd, and they all looked at the probes with renewed interest. A few people even seemed warily excited.

As the probes approached the three Charmed Ones, Max inconspicuously waved his fingers, causing the probes to scan the people standing behind them instead of the intended target.

"Nicely done," Piper murmured, then took the opportunity to look around. Across from her, three mannequins held the superhero costumes they had donned when helping Kevin become an Elder. She also noted Phoebe's mermaid tail and a few other articles of clothing that didn't look familiar yet. The crowd was gathering closer to the guide, and she too inched forward, keeping her head down so that they wouldn't be recognized.

"Around here you'll notice just a few of the many mythological creatures the legendary sisters transformed into in their demon fighting heyday," the tour guide continued. "Actually, the Charmed Ones were responsible for well over a thousand demon vanquishes before they were finally vanquished themselves."

Phoebe grimaced and exchanged a brief look with Paige. Next to them, Max watched the tour guide with guarded worry in his eyes. Piper seemed both morbidly fascinated and disgusted by this display of their lives.

"Now," the tour guide said, her voice suddenly lowering to a hushed whisper, "the time is twenty-five yeas ago." People pushed forward, listening desperately to hear the story. "Imagine yourselves standing here on this floor when the Charmed Ones were reborn."

"This is it," Max murmured to Piper. "This is what we need to worry about."

_A holograph burst to life in the center of the room, and a younger version of the Charmed Ones appeared. Paige, with dark brown hair and a very pale face, stared upwards in utter shock as a brilliant golden light filled the room, drenching herself, Piper, and Phoebe._

"_Okay, what was that?" Paige asked, her voice shaking._

_Leo stepped forward, calm and reassuring. "I think that means you're supposed to be here." _

_And then there was a screeching noise, the shattering of glass, and a violent rush of wind, and Shax appeared, rushing forward and knocking the girls to the floor._

And the crowd watching the holograph screamed.

The tour guide snapped a small remote in her hand and the holograph disappeared. With a light laugh, she said, "Gets them every time."

Max looked around nervously, but no one seemed to notice the similarities between the three women he was escorting and the witches seen on the screen a few moments ago. He let out a breath of relief.

"Okay," the tour guide called, "let's head over to the kitchen where many of the sisters' classic potions were brewed. Some of which are available for purchase in the gift shop on the way out."

The crowd shuffled after her, and Phoebe whispered to Paige, "They sell magic potions to mortals?"

Paige answered with a shrug.

In the kitchen, they noted several different potions ingredients lying out on the table, as well as a few recipes. Nothing particularly powerful and certainly nothing dangerous, but it still seemed so completely wrong to have magic displayed in such an open fashion.

Piper stepped forward to look at the pot sitting on the stove, but Max caught her hand and pulled her back, refusing to let her go very far. He didn't want to get separated right now, not when they were so close. He shook his head silently, and she sent him a glare but remained still.

The tour guide added, "Of course, the attic was the preferred spot for potion making, principally because that's where they kept the famed Book of Shadows. Which is where we are headed next. A little background on the manor itself, it was actually…" Her voice drifted off as she shepherded the rest of the group through the hallway towards the stairs. The sisters all exchanged wary looks as they were left alone.

"Move along," a low voice growled as a guard shimmered into the room.

Piper and Paige stared at the ground, and Phoebe carefully averted her face so that they would not be recognized. Max flexed one hand, his back to the demon, his eyes scanning the room to make sure no stray tourists would witness what was to come.

"I said move," the demon snarled, and Paige spun around to face him as he stood directly in front of her.

"Knife!" she called softly, and a knife from the counter flew through the air and neatly sliced into the demon's back, vanquishing him instantly. As he went up in flames, Paige snatched the knife out of thin air and replaced it on the counter.

Max strode to the door to the basement and yanked it open. "Come on," he ordered nervously. "Let's go!"

* * *

_Wyatt's Apartment, 2025_

Bianca shimmered into Chris' bedroom. The moment she appeared here, Wyatt would sense her presence and come to investigate. Which meant that she had very little time. But Chris was sitting on his bed, flipping through a spell book that he had obviously borrowed from Wyatt. He looked up as soon as Bianca appeared, and the look that flickered through his eyes was both angry and guilty.

"Bianca. What are you doing here?"

"No time to explain," Bianca hissed. "We need to go! Now."

"No," Chris argued instantly. However guilty he felt about dismissing Bianca's explanations before, he couldn't give up on his plan. And that meant he needed to stay here, and she needed to fend for herself. "I'm not fleeing back to the Resistance with you. I need to…"

"Go back in time," Bianca agreed. "I know. Your family is in the attic waiting for you. Wyatt will know that I am here and I…"

"Wait, what?" Chris demanded, tossing the book aside and rising to his feet. "What do you mean they are in the attic?"

"Chris, we need to go now!" Bianca snapped, glancing warily at the door. "I don't have time to explain." She bit her lip. "Do you have the time travel spell?"

"What?" Chris asked hesitantly. How did she know that he had copied that spell down? Unless she had purposely arranged for him to see the Book? Or was this just a test to see if he was betraying Wyatt? Had his brother sent her to find out what his plan was?

He loved Bianca. But he just wasn't sure what to believe anymore.

"The spell!" Bianca answered. "Where is it?"

Chris reached down subconsciously with one hand to run his fingers over the lining of his pants pocket. The tiny movement, so pointless to an untrained eye, was caught by the well-trained assassin witch, and Bianca allowed herself a smug smile.

It had been a risk, praying Chris would use the opportunity to record that spell. But she had hoped that he was as desperately looking for a way to return to the past as she was looking for a way to save him, and it now appeared that her prediction had been correct.

"Good," she said with relief.

"How do I know this isn't a trap?" Chris asked. He did truly believe that Bianca was on his side, but he couldn't quite trust that she was really trying to help him. She'd brought him back to this future, so why would she risk sending him back in time? What was different now?

Bianca crossed the floor and grabbed him by the arm, opting not to waste time and breath trying to explain this to him. Instead, she shimmered the two of them away.

* * *

_Manor Attic, 2025_

Piper paced back and forth across the floor, staring at the perfectly drawn triqueta on the wall. Paige was standing next to it, resting her hands on the edge of the sofa, her face wearing an unreadable expression. Phoebe rubbed her head, still fighting the empathy-caused migraines.

Only Max seemed calm, standing in the center of the room, waiting.

"What if it doesn't work?" Piper said finally, her fearful words filling the silence. "What if Bianca doesn't bring Chris to us? What if she wasn't trustworthy?"

"She'll come," Max said stonily. "It's not quite six yet. Relax."

"Relax?_ Relax_?" Piper spat, incredulous. "How can you possibly tell me to relax when one of my sons is being held prisoner by the other? For all we know, Wyatt is torturing Chris…"

"He's not," Max said, and he spoke with such conviction that Piper found herself believing the words before she had a chance to question them. Max looked at Piper for a moment, then looked away, his eyes moving instinctively towards the podium where the Book used to sit. "Wyatt wouldn't hurt Chris… not as long as he thinks he can turn Chris to his point of view."

"And once he realizes that he can't?" Phoebe asked diffidently, unsure if she wanted the answer.

Max gave her an hard look and said simply, "Hopefully Chris will be in the past and out of his reach by then."

That did little to reassure Phoebe. She could sense the uneasiness radiating from Max, even if he didn't show the emotion on his face. However, she knew better than to mention this aloud and risk panicking Piper. Instead, she pressed her hands to her forehead and tried to focus on their plan.

"How do we know Chris has the spell? How do we know Lavinia will go through with the time ban? What if Wyatt comes back after Chris?" Paige babbled, fear making her words almost incoherent in their speed.

"Is Wyatt going to come here?" Piper asked abruptly, the thought only just occurring to her. "Will we see him?" She wasn't sure how she would take that particular meeting. He was still her son, and she loved him, and part of her had trouble actually believing that he was responsible for all of this. And yet…

He was the evil overlord of the world.

"He'll come," Max answered. "Hopefully you will have gone back in time before then." He ran a hand through his hair and looked away, unable to meet Piper's searching gaze. He knew that Wyatt would arrive almost instantaneously. At first they had hoped that they could stay under the radar until they cast the time travel spell. But if Wyatt was as suspicious of Bianca and Chris as they believed, then he would most likely be using his magic to keep track of at least Chris at all times. And the moment Chris joined them here…

Wyatt would come.

He could only hope the Charmed Ones would be ready for that.

The departure had been so much more rushed than they had all originally anticipated, but things had changed, and clearly they had to adjust as well. Chris was famed for being able to think of his feet, for being flexible in his plans. They could only pray that Chris still retained that ability.

"And will you and Bianca make it safely back to the Resistance?" Phoebe asked. She had heard Cole's previous words, knew that they all expected Bianca not to survive the encounter. But were they being realistic or pessimistic? Was it possible still that they might return to safety?

"That's the plan," Max answered, and once again she could tell from his emotions that he was lying.

On a whim, Phoebe crossed the floor and laid a hand on Max's arm. He seemed surprised by the gesture, but instead of drawing back as she had expected, he held her gaze for a beat, waiting.

"Don't get yourself killed," Phoebe whispered in a low voice. "Melinda… she doesn't need to lose anyone else."

A shadow of a smile spread across Max's face, but it was gone almost as soon as it had come. He nodded solemnly, and answered, "I'll do my best."

Piper observed her younger sister, then turned to Paige. "I want to see him, and yet… I don't. I can't face him knowing that he… he did all this." She gestured towards the window through which they could see the expanse of blue sky that floated over the ruined city.

"We can change all this," Paige promised. "We can fix it. That's what Chris wanted, right? That's why he came back in time."

Piper chewed her bottom lip and nodded reluctantly. "I know," she agreed, but it did nothing to settle the dread in her stomach.

And then a ripple of air, and Bianca and Chris were suddenly standing in the center of the room.

"Chris!" Piper rushed to Chris, grabbing him quickly by the arms and squeezing tightly as she gazed into his eyes, reassuring herself that he was okay.

Chris yanked his arm out of her grip and gave Bianca an accusing look. "They know?" he asked, because that was the only explanation for Piper's strange behavior.

"Did you really think your identity could be kept a secret?" Bianca asked with a shrug. "Cole had to tell them something to make them agree to Lavinia's deal."

"What?"

"They'll explain everything once you are safely back in time," Bianca answered. "But right now, you need to go."

Chris looked as though he wanted to argue, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by the sparkle of blue and black orbs that coalesced in the middle of the room, by the way Bianca suddenly fell into a fighting stance with an energy ball flaring into her hand, by the resigned and grim look on Max's face.

And then Wyatt Matthew Halliwell was standing in their midst.


	18. Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Any dialogue you recognize is taken from _Chris-Crossed_ and adjusted to fit the needs of my story.

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Eighteen: Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

He stood there, tall and unyielding, power radiating from his body in great waves. His blonde hair, long and unkempt, fell alongside two cold blue eyes that were fixed on Chris with a look of utmost betrayal and fury.

"E tu, Chris?" Wyatt asked, taking a step forward, completely ignoring his mother and aunts. "Of all the people to betray me."

"I didn't come back to betray you, Wyatt," Chris protested. "I came back to save you." Next to him, Bianca tightened her grip on his wrist, as though warning him to be careful; he was playing a dangerous game.

"Save me?" Wyatt asked with a chilly laugh. "From what?" His gaze moved quickly to Bianca, and then back to Chris, watching them both with a calculating gaze.

"From whatever evil it was that turned you," Chris replied firmly, refusing to back down.

Wyatt laughed again, the same cold, eerie laugh. "That's always been your problem, Chris," he said with condescension. "Stuck in the old good versus evil mores. I'm so past that." He walked forward until he was standing directly in front of Chris. "It's all about power, it's as simple as that."

"And whoever has the most power wins, is that it?" Chris hissed.

"That's it."

Wyatt's words seemed to jolt Piper from her speechless stupor, and she cried out in dismay, "Wyatt! How could you think that?" She tried to step towards him, but he turned away from her, and she stopped, one hand reaching out longingly, her expression filled with heartache and despair.

"What has Good ever done for us, Mother?" Wyatt sneered. "Except destroy our family? Pull it apart and leave us all in ruins?" He looked at Chris again, then asked, "How long or was it all just a plot?"

And because it was Chris, there was no need to finish the question, to specify what he was asking. They were still brothers, no matter what, and Chris would always understand.

"About a day," Chris replied, "I've had my memories for about a day. It wasn't a plot, not before. I believed you." He looked at Bianca who was now staring at him and said with a touch of bitterness in his voice, "Bianca made me believe."

"Pity you couldn't have kept believing," Wyatt snapped. "We should have ruled side-by-side, Chris. It never had to be like this."

But Chris shook his head sadly. "It always had to be like this, Wyatt. From the first moment you turned, it was always going to end up just like this."

Wyatt didn't reply. Instead, he turned back towards his mother, and said, "It's time for you and my darling Aunts to leave, Mother. I have a traitor to deal with."

"He's your brother!" Phoebe protested, horrified by this colder version of her young, innocent, toddler nephew. What had happened to the sweet boy who she adored?

At the same time, Piper said harshly, "We're not leaving without Chris."

Wyatt's eyes darted to Max, who was standing behind Phoebe, his arms hanging by his side, his entire body tense. The black-eyed witch met the gaze of the Twice Blessed without flinching, without even the slightest blink of his eyes.

"Traitors," Wyatt said softly, "deserve to be punished." Then he glanced back at Chris and said with a sigh, "But you are my brother. If anyone else had tried what you tried, I'd kill them on the spot. But you, Chris… I forgave Bianca, I can forgive you too, _if_ you promise never to cross me again."

Bianca's grip tightened even more on Chris' arm, but he ignored the increased pressure and rolled his eyes. "I think you know me better than that."

"Let him go, Wyatt," Paige ordered, storming forward. She stopped in front of Wyatt, standing between him and Chris, her hands wresting on her hips. "Let him come back to the past with us."

Wyatt grinned. "Why should I?" he asked maliciously, taking a vicious pleasure in the anger he could see simmering in Paige's eyes. His mother and aunts were still so much fun to taunt, and it had been a long time since anyone dared to speak to him in such a forward and confrontational manner.

It was Piper who answered. "Because I am still your mother, young man, and you will listen to me!"

Max tensed, waiting for Wyatt to act. Bianca gave Piper a worried stare, but said nothing. Only Chris seemed unruffled by the dark look that had come into Wyatt's eyes. Because he knew, more than any of them, that Wyatt would never kill Piper, never murder his own mother. He wasn't that evil, he wasn't that far gone. Yet.

Wyatt suddenly waved his hand, and Paige felt herself engulfed in orbs. A moment later, she reappeared beside Piper and Phoebe, away from Wyatt and Chris.

"Are you going to kill me, Wyatt?" Chris asked, gazing at his brother.

Wyatt smirked, his entire face twisting into an ugly expression. "Any reason why I shouldn't, brother?" he sneered, and Piper gasped in horror.

"Wyatt, please!" she begged, rushing forward.

Wyatt carelessly turned and waved his hand, creating a shield that stopped her in her tracks, effectively blocking her from reaching him or Chris.

"Sorry, Mother, but this is between Chris and myself."

"Guess not," Chris answered, ignoring Piper's interruption. "Because I will certainly never join your side. Not willingly, and not on pain of death."

"I offered you everything!" Wyatt protested, fury leaping into his expression. "A chance to live up here, to be safe, to be taken care of, to be happy. I offered you the world, and you started a rebellion against me. And still I try to offer you a chance at redemption, and still you spit in my face!"

"You call this living safely?" Chris asked mockingly, gesturing to the city outside the window. "You and the witch hunters are constantly waging battles against each other. Or did you forget what happened to the twins?" Both Chris and Wyatt glanced at Paige, an identical sadness reflected in their eyes, then Chris shook away the emotion and continued, "And happy? You've turned our heritage and home into a museum, turned our family into a spectacle for people to gawk at."

"It reminds the people of the power from which I came and that which I possess," Wyatt said stonily.

"The power from which _we_ came," Chris corrected in a soft voice. "And in case you've failed to notice, the rest of the world isn't doing as well as your little shrine here."

Wyatt curled his hand into a fist, choking Chris. As the brunette witch-lighter fell to his knees, gasping for breath, and Piper tried even harder to get through the force-field still separating her from her sons, Wyatt murmured icily, "Pardon me?"

Max telekinetically shoved Wyatt away from Chris, breaking the Twice Blessed's telekinetic hold on his brother and on the force-field. Wyatt hit the far wall, but easily rose to his feet again and glared menacingly at Max.

"That's was stupid," Wyatt said viciously, conjuring an energy ball in one hand.

Bianca moved forward suddenly, throwing herself at Max and knocking him out of the way of the energy ball. She rolled to her feet and conjured an athame in one fluid movement, which she launched through the air at Wyatt. Before the knife could reach him, however, it froze, midair, and both Bianca and Wyatt stared at it in surprise.

The power to freeze objects had not been inherited by anyone in this room.

Except Piper.

The eldest Charmed One had raised her hands and stopped the athame before it could reach Wyatt, instinctively protecting her son.

Wyatt snatched the knife out of the air and said sarcastically, "Thanks, Mother. You've been quite the help."

"Piper!" Max protested at the same time that Phoebe and Paige shot their sister an incredulous look. A tiny bit of guilt wound its way through Piper's eyes, but she still stared back at them all with some defiance, refusing to apologize for her actions.

"He's my son!"

Chris reeled back as though he had been slapped by her comment. Although he knew, on an intellectual level, that Piper was only reacting by instinct to what she perceived as a threat to a family member, it still hurt to watch her choose to protect Wyatt when he was the one who was trying to kill them all.

"We are both your sons," Wyatt replied mildly, nodding at Chris, and Piper's guilt and doubt began to grow. "We are brothers, after all."

"No, we aren't," Chris snapped, the anger at Piper's previous actions combined with the frustration and fury he felt about the entire situation culminating into rash and hurtful words. "You lied to me, you used my loss of memories against me. You tried to turn me into a monster! We aren't brothers, Wyatt, and we haven't been in a very long time."

A resounding silence met those words, and for the first time, the Charmed Ones saw Wyatt falter, some something that looked like pain reflected in his clear blue gaze.

Then Wyatt lashed out with one arm, sending Chris crashing into the far wall. Before the younger Halliwell could recover from the blow, Wyatt waved his hand again, this time sending Chris sprawling head-over-heels into a crumpled heap next to Piper and Max.

Piper knelt down at her son's side, tears leaving tracks on her cheeks, as she reached out to pull him back to a standing position. But he pushed her hands away and climbed to his feet by himself, still glaring at Wyatt in anger and hatred.

Wyatt carelessly waved his hand, and Chris slammed into the ceiling.

"Wyatt, stop it!" Bianca cried in fear, rushing forward. "You promised me if I brought him back that you wouldn't hurt him."

"And you promised you'd turn him, like I turned you," Wyatt retorted, face flushed a deep red, eyes fixed only on Chris. "Or, at least, I thought I had."

Chris swallowed painfully as he fell back to the floor, and heard the echoing footsteps as Piper, Phoebe, and Paige all rushed to his side. He ignored them and focused his attention on Wyatt and Bianca, who were standing side-by-side, arguing.

Bianca spun around, eyes widening in fear as she watched Chris. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Max made a sudden move with one hand, telekinetically lifting the podium on which the Book used to stand and hurtling it at Wyatt. The Twice Blessed turned just in time to duck as the podium flew over his head and crashed to the ground, shattering into pieces.

Wyatt conjured an energy ball and threw it at Max, who jumped to one side. The energy ball still hit him in the shoulder, however, and he winced in pain as it burned his skin.

Chris was standing again, and once again Piper, Phoebe, and Paige all stood around him, trying to offer their protection and power.

But Wyatt raised his hands, and they began to glow with a strange reddish light. Piper narrowed her eyes, confused at whatever Wyatt was about to do, and Paige placed a hand on Chris' arm, attempting to be reassuring. Phoebe, however, doubled over and cried out in pain as she was hit by three very powerful waves of fear and desperation; it became clear to her that Max, Bianca, and Chris all knew exactly what Wyatt was about to do, and were terrified.

And then Bianca acted. Before Wyatt could release the burst of energy that would incinerate everything in it's path, leaving alive only those that he wished to spare, she stepped behind him and plunged her fist directly into his back. He arched, growling in pain as she began to drain his powers, and the eerie light faded from his fingers.

"Chris," Bianca gasped, the exertion of holding Wyatt still showing clearly on her features, "Say the spell. Hurry. I can't hold him for long."

Chris reached into his pocket and pulled out the time travel spell, smoothing out the edges and moving to face the chalk triqueta drawn on the attic wall. "Hear my words, hear the rhyme, heed the hope inside my mind. Send us back to where we'll find, what we seek in space and time."

The triqueta glowed blue, and a portal opened.

With a great Herculean effort, Wyatt managed to tear himself free of Bianca's hold. He spun around and kicked her forcefully, sending her sprawling backwards. Her body crashed heavily into the potions table, shattered vials into shards of glass. The leg of the table snapped in two, the jagged end impaling Bianca through the stomach just below the chest. Her eyes widened in shock and horror, and then began to glaze over in pain.

For one moment, time seemed to stand still. Max watched Bianca fall, her body making an arc in the air, and knew before it happened exactly what would happen. Piper lifted one hand to her mouth as Bianca's body shuddered with the impact of the potions table, and Phoebe looked away as the table leg forced its way through the Phoenix's stomach. Paige opened her mouth to cry out, but no sound emerged.

And Wyatt stood there, suddenly frozen, a mixture of emotions playing through his mind; pleasure and triumph at the fact that he had finally rid himself of the troublesome and interfering Phoenix, and a tiny amount of guilt at the look of utter horror on Chris' face. The rage that had filled him at Chris' harsh words drained from his body, leaving only a strange mixture of regret and triumph, of doubt and relief and guilt and confusion, all emotions he was not used to feeling.

"NO!" Chris screamed, waving one hand haphazardly and sending Wyatt flying into the ceiling. The blonde witch smashed his head against the chandelier, and fell back to the ground, momentarily stunned.

Chris took a few faltering steps towards Wyatt's form, his green eyes turned almost jet black with a searing and uncontrollable rage. And then a voice called out to him, soft and gentle, and on the brink of death.

"Ch-Chris?"

He moved instantly to her side. "Bianca, no! No, no. No, this can't be happening."

"Go back… hurry. Before the portal… closes. You'll be safe… so you can… finish… what we started."

She touched his hand, pushing something into his palm. He looked down to see the engagement ring, and when he looked back up at her face, her eyes had closed and her breath had stopped.

He placed the engagement ring in his pocket and rose to his feet.

"Chris, the portal won't stay open much longer," Phoebe said, glancing over her shoulder at the swirling blue lights.

"And we have other problems," Paige agreed as she noticed Wyatt beginning to stir on the ground.

But Chris just stood there, as though he had forgotten how to move. So Piper took him by the arm and dragged him forward just as Wyatt rose to his feet, an energy ball formed in his hand. Max waved his hand, again attacking Wyatt, but Wyatt easily side-stepped the attack, and threw his energy ball at Chris. Piper just managed to pull her younger son through the portal, and the blue light faded as the portal turned back into a solid wall, the energy ball smashing harmlessly into the wood.

And then the attic was silent, only Wyatt and Max facing each other, and Bianca's dead body slumped over the broken table near the wall.

* * *

_Underworld, 2025_

Lavinia watched the images that swirled through her pool. She turned to Cole. "It's time."

Cole nodded, prepared to start the ceremony, then asked hesitantly, "Did either Bianca or Max survive?"

"Max might," Lavinia replied thoughtfully, "but that depends on his resourcefulness and the Resistance's desire to save him. Only time can answer that question."

She didn't say anything about Bianca, and Cole didn't ask again.


	19. The Sound of Silence

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: PLEASE READ. Okay guys, here's the deal. We're now in the past, and we are going to stay in the past. Which means I'm not going to tell you what happened to Max or anyone else in the future. That's up to you to decide. But this story is focused on Chris and what happens to him, and that's really what is important right now.

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Nineteen: The Sound of Silence

_Manor, present day_

Piper knew that for as long as she lived, she would always remember the haunted look on her younger son's face as he lifted himself from the floor of the attic and turned to stare at the wall where the portal had been only moments before. He seemed to be holding his breath, unable even to form a coherent sentence as he gaped in silent horror. His right hand was clenched around something, and he slowly opened his fingers, finally tearing his eyes away from the wall to stare at the thin silver ring in his hand.

Then the chimes of orbs filled the air, and Leo appeared, holding Wyatt in his arms and looking around in confusion. His eyes landed on the sisters and Chris and he let out of sigh of relief. "Thank God you're back safely," Leo exclaimed.

Paige, who was brushing the dirt off of her pants, looked up sharply, her eyes landing on the blonde toddler in Leo's arms. The boy cooed happily, reaching out for his mother and aunts, unaware that his presence in the room had caused any tension or anger.

Chris spun around at Leo's voice, and let his gaze fall on Wyatt. His green eyes narrowed into thin slits of dark venom, and his face twisted in fury. He took a threatening step towards Wyatt, who turned innocent eyes to Chris and instantly raised his shield, recognizing the dangerous rage radiating from the brunette witch-lighter.

"Hey!" Leo protested, not comprehending the look in Chris' eyes. "Chris, what's wrong with you?"

Chris faltered, and then Piper reached out and laid a gentle hand on his arm. He flinched from her touch and looked away, and Piper felt her heart break at the grief-filled look in his eyes. But she swallowed her own pain and said quietly, "Chris, peanut…"

"_Don't_ call me that," Chris warned, glaring sharply at Piper.

Piper felt the tears burn in her eyes, but she nodded to his request. "Chris, why don't you…"

"What, Piper?" Chris demanded, cutting into her words. "What do you want me to do? How is any of this going to be better? How can I fix what I've done?" Bianca was dead because of him. Because he refused to listen to her when she had begged him just to let her explain. If she hadn't been forced to bring him to the attic, if she hadn't had to fight Wyatt to save him… She could have still been alive and safe, but he…

He had killed her. It was _his_ fault.

Piper was looking at him with sympathy in her eyes. Leo simply looked bewildered. Paige was glancing back and forth between mother and son, wary as though she expected a fight to break out. Phoebe was leaning against the wall, rubbing her temples as her empathy powers caused yet another migraine.

And he couldn't take it. He couldn't be here. He couldn't face them.

He orbed.

In the silence left behind in the attic, Wyatt gurgled happily at the departure of all the negative emotions he had sensed, and Leo turned a bewildered gaze to Piper. "What just happened?" he demanded, trying to understand the closeness he had just seen between Chris and Piper and the hatred he had witnessed directed from Chris to Wyatt.

"Our trip to the future was enlightening," Piper replied with an odd inflection in her voice. "Can you sense Chris?"

Leo closed his eyes and concentrated, then opened them and shook his head. "He's blocking me. Piper, what happened?"

'How long have we been gone?" Phoebe asked when it was clear that Piper was too distraught to answer Leo's question.

The Elder turned to the empath and answered distractedly, "Only a few hours."

"But it was couple days," Phoebe muttered, shaking her head. She walked over to the sofa and sank onto the cushions, holding her head in her hands. She was starting to develop such a headache from all of this, and the waves of guilt, fear, and love radiating from Piper were not helping.

"Time travel works in strange ways," Leo replied, resting his eyes on Piper once again. She was still standing there in the center of the room, her face a mixture of conflicting emotions. "How long you stayed in one time isn't necessarily the same as how long you are absent from another."

"We should scry for him," Piper said suddenly, turning to Paige. "Can you orb anything from P3 to scry with?"

"There wasn't much there," Paige answered hesitantly, not wanting to upset Piper. "I don't think he has anything special enough…" She couldn't just scry with one of his old shirts of a chart he had made. And she wasn't even sure scrying would work. If Chris didn't want to be found, he would know how to stay hidden.

"Can someone please fill me in?" Leo asked in exasperation, shifting Wyatt from one arm to the other. The young toddler had begun to fuss when he realized that his cooing would not gain him any extra attention from his mother. Leo shushed him, but continue to stare demandingly at his ex-wife.

"Bianca's dead," Piper said finally, "and I don't think Chris is dealing with it all that well. We need to find him before he does something stupid… like get turned into a Fury."

"How did Bianca die?" Leo questioned, instinctively knowing that the answer to that question would tell him exactly why everyone was behaving so strangely.

But that simple question had more of an effect than he had anticipated. Piper glanced at the blonde-haired boy in Leo's arms, then turned sharply away, her eyes filling with tears that she refused to let fall. She took a few faltering steps, then reached out and rested her hands on the podium that still held the Book, using it as a support to remain standing.

Phoebe whimpered in pain and pressed her fingers against her head. Paige, seeing the toll this was taking on Phoebe, quickly crossed to her sister and, placing one hand on Phoebe's shoulder, orbed the two of them away.

Leo placed Wyatt in the playpen next to the sofa and walked over to Piper. Wrapping an arm around Piper's shoulders, he pulled her towards him, letting her rest her forehead against his chest. "Whatever it is," he said softly, firmly, "we can fix it."

Piper lifted tear-filled eyes to her ex-husband and said bluntly, "Chris is our son. Wyatt's little brother."

Leo just stared at her. He couldn't comprehend what she had said, couldn't think past anything besides the two words that echoed back and forth in his mind.

_Our son_.

"Wh-what? But how… no, that's not… I mean… _what_?"

"That's why he came back instead of someone else. To save his brother. His family." Piper pushed herself away from Leo and walked over to the sofa. She sat on the edge, staring at the playpen by her side, watching as Wyatt amused himself by chewing on a large blue bear that he had received as a present at some point or other. Her little boy… evil.

Leo watched Piper, still trying to understand. It didn't make any sense, and yet somehow, at the same time, it made perfect sense. The way Chris knew all of them so well, knew his way around the Manor, knew what was going to happen to each of them in the future. But it didn't make sense that his own son would want to do anything to ruin his marriage to Piper and put his own conception in temporary.

"Oh, god…" That thought was followed by the horrific realization that he had been so suspicious of his own son. He thought of Valhalla, of the way he had forced Chris to fight him, to defend himself against all the accusations.

"What happens to Wyatt?" Leo questioned finally, walking over to Piper and looking down at his son.

Piper rubbed her red-rimmed eyes. "We have to talk," she said grimly.

* * *

_Underworld, present day_

By the time the last demon went up in a rush of flames, Chris was so drained of power he could barely stand up straight. He knew it had been a stupid idea to take on an entire cave filled with demons, but he hadn't been thinking straight at the time. In fact, the only thought going through his mind was that if he could vanquish every demon in the Underworld, there would be no one left to turn Wyatt evil, and the darkness of his future could be avoided. It was faulty logic, he knew rationally, because he couldn't actually vanquish every threat. But he wasn't thinking logically, and as the emotions consumed him, he saw nothing but a red hatred of everything evil.

The cave was now empty, and Chris sank onto his hands and knees, breathing heavily. His green eyes, usually so bright and clear, were almost black now as they filled with rage and pain, and his body shook with barely controlled emotions.

By the time his energy returned, and he could finally stand again, the rush of pain was gone, replaced instead by a strange numbness, a sense of complete and utter loss that left him feeling empty and alone.

As he had vanquished each and every demon in that cave, watching them scream as they turned into ash that scattered through the air and blanketed the dirt floor, he had felt nothing but pure hatred for Wyatt and intense pleasure at the death and destruction he was wreaking on the demons. That was gone as well, draining away from him.

Instead, there was just this echoing emptiness within him, a vast expanse of nothingness. He couldn't cry, the tears wouldn't come. But he felt as though a heavy weight pressed down upon him, pushing him towards the ground.

Wyatt had tried to kill him. The Twice Blessed had not been thinking at the time, and probably would not have actually killed Chris had he been rational. Chris' harsh words, his refusal to call Wyatt his brother had been the trigger that had sent Wyatt over the edge. But even though he knew, on some level, that Wyatt had simply been acting in sudden rage, it did not lessen the horrifying ache that spread through his body at the memory… Wyatt had tried to kill him.

_Would you really give up everything just for a chance to save him?_ Bianca had asked him once, long before their plan had been conceived, before they even realized that Wyatt _could_ be saved.

_He's my brother_, Chris had replied, and at the time, that had been the only thing that really mattered, the only explanation he needed.

But now…

Every day, the future got a little darker. Every day, another ally died in the never-ending battle they were fighting, the battle just to stay alive, stay afloat. Survival. And Bianca, lying on that floor, her broken body covered in blood, the engagement ring clutched in the palm of her hand…

_Are you going to kill me, Wyatt?_

_Any reason why I shouldn't, brother?_

One of the demons in that cave had been foolish enough to try to escape. Chris rubbed his eyes and climbed to his feet, remembering with satisfaction the way he had grabbed the demon before he could blink away and held him in a telekinetic hold, slowly choking the life out of him. By the time the demon was vanquished, Chris had imagined that he was seeing Wyatt's face reflected in those cold black eyes, and for the first time, he felt not grief at the vanquish, at the thought of Wyatt's life ended.

The thought sickened him.

_What if you can't save him?_ Bianca had asked him once, after their plan was plotted, after every detail was mapped out in both their minds. _What if you go back in time, and find that he's just destined to be this way?_

He hadn't answered at the time. He knew what Bianca wanted him to say, that he would take care of the threat another way. But he couldn't bring himself to consider the idea of vanquishing Wyatt, of killing his own brother, his flesh and blood. He would let the world burn a thousand times over before he delivered the blow that would kill his brother.

_We are brothers, after all._

_No, we aren't. You lied to me, you used my loss of memories against me. You tried to turn me into a monster! We aren't brothers, Wyatt, and we haven't been in a very long time._

He imagined Wyatt's death, and found the idea did not pain him as much anymore. Did that make him a monster as well?

"No," he moaned, rubbing his head and trying in vain to push away the thoughts. He couldn't think about this now, couldn't deal with the repercussions of what he was feeling. Bianca's death was to recent, the pain to raw, for him to think past anything besides the overwhelming grief that consumed him.

But the memories, the thoughts, the ideas, would not leave him alone.

He wondered what his mother or aunts would say if they could see him now, if they knew what he was thinking. He could almost perfectly imagine his mother's disapproving tone as she told him that she did not raise him to act like this, to give up on his family.

And then another demon walked into the cave.

He was tall, a dark cloak hanging to the dirt floor, the hood covering his facial features. Chris stared at the newcomer, his eyes narrowing slightly as he prepared to attack.

The demon crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Well, well, well… you must be Christopher…"

Chris blinked, then asked hesitantly, "And you are?"

"I don't know," the demon said, reaching up and pulling back his hood. "You tell me. What do you see?"

Those words gave Chris the clues he needed to figure out the identity of the demon before him. Bits of conversations he had overheard from both this timeline and his own future fell into place, and he murmured the name, "Orexio." Even as he said the word, as the demon pulled down the hood, he wondered who he would see. What did he feel most guilty about? Would he see Bianca's pain-filled face, or Wyatt's angry blue eyes, or his mother's disapprovingly pursed lips and raised eyebrows?

It was none of those. Instead, he was staring into his own face.

_Do you think I can save Wyatt?_ Chris had asked once, watching Daryl carefully, gauging his reaction.

_You believe it. That's what matters. You haven't given up yet, and that's what makes you so remarkable, so different from everyone else._

Chris swallowed nervously. Had he given up? Had he turned his back on everything he ever believed in, everything he once thought was worth fighting for? Had he given up on Wyatt? Was that what he was seeing in Orexio? The guilt of his own mistakes, his own failings?

Instinctively, he orbed from the cave, and was vaguely surprised that Orexio did not follow him. Still, he knew that the demon enjoyed tormenting his victims, so maybe he didn't want to kill Chris quiet yet. Maybe he was simply biding his time, enjoying every moment that he could before going in for the final kill. Or maybe this was just some elaborate trick, a plan to get to the Charmed Ones?

Chris stumbled and fell back slightly against the corridor wall. He glanced around at the new part of the Underworld he had appeared in. It looked the same as everywhere else he had ever been, and he slowly let out a breath and wondered what he was supposed to do now.

In the silence that surrounded him, everything else faded away, and all he could see was Bianca's frightened eyes and Wyatt's shocked expression and his own confusion and indecision.

"I'm not a monster. I haven't given up. I won't kill my own family. I won't let the world be destroyed."

His promises and vows echoed against the corridor rock walls, and there was no response from the silence.

* * *

_Manor sunroom, present day_

Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, Leo knew that he would get over this shock. He would move forward, standing next to Piper as they helped bring Chris back from his grief, fighting along-side Chris as they saved Wyatt from the evil that would come after him. But the logic of everything they knew did not help him deal with the doubts and fears and thousands of other emotions that were plaguing him as he stared at Piper's widened brown eyes and tried to take in what she had told him.

Their baby boy was evil.

Piper was a good mother. He saw it as she bounced the toddler gently in her arms, balancing him against her hip, and looking past the fact that he was the psychotic magical dictator of the future. She smiled at him because he was their sweet, innocent, beautiful son, and she was his mother.

From the kitchen, the Elder could hear the sounds of talking, his two sisters-in-law discussing their next steps. He knew they were frantically trying to scry for Chris, but he knew also that they would never find the wayward witch-lighter through something as simple as scrying.

He remembered something Chris had said, a memory that had come to him while he was still struggling to regain knowledge of who he was.

_Everyone up here was dead. I was screaming for my father. I think I might have been ten or eleven._

_Did you father answer you? Did you find him?_

_No._

"I died," Leo whispered, his voice soft enough so that Piper would not hear. "When he was ten or eleven…" It was a realization he did not want to burden Piper with, knowing that the mother of his sons would have too many other concerns on her mind to deal with his premature death as well. But he had died, leaving both his sons alone, and suddenly he felt cold inside, as though his blood had turned to ice.

He'd missed the chance to see them grow up.

"Paige? Anything yet?" Piper called, her voice bordering on a high-pitched screech. Wyatt, sensing the fear radiating from his mother, began to cry, wailing at the top of his lungs while tears pooled in his eyes. Piper turned to him, murmuring in a soothing voice, "Shush, Wyatt, it's okay. Mommy's right here, see? Mommy's got you."

Paige poked her head out of the kitchen. "Nothing yet," she answered, glancing between Leo and Piper. "Phoebe's still trying, but all we have of his is an old shirt. Not special enough to find him."

"Keep scrying," Piper ordered brusquely, barely sparing Paige a glance. "Can you sense him yet?" she questioned, turning to Leo.

"No," Leo answered. "He's still blocked."

"Look," Paige ventured cautiously, "I hate to be the one to bring this up, but we also need to think about Orexio. We made a deal with Lavinia, and we need to…"

"We aren't doing anything until Chris is back," Piper snapped. "I'm not doing anything until I know my son is safe."

"Piper, I don't know if it is such a good idea to wait," Paige countered worriedly. "He's still out there, and he's still after us. What if he goes after Chris?"

"If he hurts Chris, I will vanquish him and any other demon he's so much as looked at during the last year," Piper snarled, her face flushed a dark crimson.

"We made a deal, Piper," Paige said, her voice rising slightly in an attempt to be heard, "we can't go back on it now."

"Why not?" Piper argued, handing a now wailing Wyatt to Leo. "Demons do it to us, don't they? Why do we have to follow morals when they don't have any?"

"You heard Cole," Paige answered, almost unable to believe she was using the half-demon to justify what she was saying. But as much as she disliked him, she knew better than to doubt what he had said, given that all their lives might depends on it. "Lavinia will have some type of backup, a way of ensuring that we do what we are told. She did save our lives, Piper. She saved Chris. And she can probably easily undo that, so…"

Leo tuned out the conversation for a moment as he focused his energy on Wyatt. The boy's face was scrunched up, his eyes closed tightly as tiny tears slid from under the lids. Leo bounced him, but the toddler continue to cry, not understanding what was happening.

Leo rocked him, shushed him, did everything he could think of to soothe the little boy. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that Wyatt would continue to sob hysterically until the negative energy in the room disappeared. And yet there was no way for Leo to stop the growing anger and fear that was radiating from Piper, or the worry and concern he felt. No way for him to look at Wyatt, and not wonder just how evil the little boy would become.

"Leo! Can't you get him to shut up for one moment?" Piper spat, her furious voice pulling Leo from his thoughts as she gestured at Wyatt. "We're trying to find Chris!"

A dead silence met those words. Even Wyatt had stopped crying, and he was simply staring at his mother with wide, uncomprehending eyes. Paige's face wore a mixture of shock and disgust, and Leo's mouth hung open in horror at the sharp words Piper had directed towards her son.

The silence, Piper realized, was less soothing than the screaming that had occurred only moments before. In the silence, she could stare at Wyatt, and nothing distracted her from the knowledge that she had just taken out her frustration on her innocent son.

"Oh… Wyatt, I didn't mean to yell at you…" Piper whispered, stepping forward towards her son.

But Leo backed away, still holding Wyatt. "Piper, I think you need to listen to Paige. We can't help Chris until we find him, but Orexio is still out there."

"So you just want to give up on our son?" Piper demanded harshly. "What, you suddenly decide that you don't care about him? He's not as important as Wyatt? He might not be born yet, but he's still our son, Leo!"

Leo paled, but refused to lose his temper at his obviously upset wife. He glanced at the door to the kitchen, where Phoebe had appeared, drawn by all the noise. The empath too was staring at Piper, her eyes clouded with worry, her forehead creased with anxiety.

The Elder thought to himself that he was incredibly thankful he didn't have the ability to sense all the emotions in the room. It would have probably driven him insane.

"It is not that I don't love my sons," Leo said firmly, "but we need to face the reality of the situation."

"The reality of the situation is that my son is missing," Piper argued hotly.

"And arguing isn't going to make things any better," Phoebe cut in, determined to stop the yelling before it pushed her over the edge. "I agree with Paige, Piper. We need to focus on Orexio. Leo can continue to search for Chris."

"No," Piper said, her fury rising as she watched the other three side against her. "I can't just leave him."

"You aren't giving up on him," Phoebe said, walking into the room. She shot quick looks at Leo and Paige, signaling for them to remain quiet while she dealt with the problem. "Piper, I know that you want to find Chris. I know you want to tell him that you love him, that you're sorry for everything we said or did, that you're proud of him. But you can't let that desire get in the way of doing what is best for Chris. And right now, what is best for Chris is holding up our end of the bargain so that Lavinia prevents Wyatt from coming back in time."

"I need find him," Piper whispered, tears filling her eyes, one hand lifted to her mouth. "I need to apologize. Phoebe, you don't understand. All the things I did, all the times I told him to get a life, told him I didn't trust him. All that anger… He's my son, Phoebe." Her voice began to waver as she struggled to form her thoughts into coherent sentences. "I need to find him," she said again, her bottom lip quivering. "He's my son."

Phoebe pulled her older sister into a hug, and whispered soothingly, "We'll find him, Piper. I promise."

"Will we?" Piper asked, unsure.

"Yes," Paige said, jumping into the conversation. "Yes, we will. Look, Piper, why don't the three of us go into the kitchen and come up with a plan for confronting Orexio. We can give Leo some silence so that he can focus on sensing for Chris."

Piper nodded slowly. She took Wyatt from Leo and said softly, "I'm so sorry, sweetie." Wyatt rested his head against his mother's shoulder, calmer now that the rush of passionate emotions had faded.

Leo watched the three sisters leave the room. Then he walked over to the sofa and sat down, resting his head in his hands. He tried to focus on finding Chris, but all he could think about was everything he had done. He had hit Chris, thrown him into a wall. He'd tried to get his wings clipped. He'd suspected him, doubted him, fought him every step of the way.

Could he ever be forgiven?

His train of thought came to an abrupt end as something else came to mind. When Chris had lost his memories and needed to escape all the confusion, he'd gone to two different places. The top of the Golden Gate Bridge, and that small San Francisco Arboretum. He might be in the Underworld now, but eventually he would need to come back up here, and he would mostly go to one of those two spots.

But which one?

Leo rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger and wondered if he should call Piper. But Phoebe and Paige had finally gotten their older sister to focus on the task of finding Orexio, and he did not want to disturb her from that, for fear of starting another argument like the one they just had.

This was something he would need to do himself.

Or perhaps it was just selfishness, he wanted to be the first to find Chris, to talk to him, to pull him out of his grief and set him back on the right path. He wanted to do what fathers are supposed to do; guide and parent his son.

Either way, he made the decision not to call for Piper.

* * *

_Underworld, present day_

Chris held his demonic contact over the pit of burning fire and thought idly of the clichéd aspects of this entire scene. A grieving and dangerously wrath-filled fallen angel holds a demon over the pits of hell. It was like something out of a bad fairy tale or an old myth meant to scare the little children.

But, of course, this tale was not a myth, not a make-believe story, not a nightmare that he could awake from. It was reality, cold and hard and sharp, and it washed over him with a brilliant clarity every time he thought of Wyatt.

The demon, of course, knew nothing about the threat after his brother, but then none of his contacts ever seemed to be particularly useful on that regard. He thought about just dropping the demon, letting him go up in ash and flames and screams, but decided against it. The red-hot fury that had eaten away at him before was gone, replaced with a sense of guilt and disgust and despair.

He threw the demon to the ground. "Get out of my sight," he snarled, and the demon didn't need to be told twice.

Once again, the Underworld was silent. An all-encompassing silence that wrapped around everything, suffocating him in its completeness. He backed away from the pit and held the sides of his head, willing the memories away.

"_Bianca, I love you," Chris said, catching her hand just before she was about to shimmer away._

_She turned to look at him, mouth opening in surprise. "Wh-what?" she stammered, caught unawares by his profession of love. She had not been expecting that, although she did know, deep down, exactly how Chris felt about her, and exactly how she felt about him._

"_I love you," Chris said._

_And Bianca found herself smiling, a small smile that graced her lips and filled her eyes with light. "I love you, too," she replied._

He hadn't seen her for three months after that conversation. She'd gone even more underground, sent by Wyatt on a mission that would require all her energy and focus to complete. It was hard to double-cross the Twice Blessed, harder still when you knew every mistake could end with not only your death, but the deaths of all you family members as well.

Their reunion had been tense and full of unspoken sentiments as she shimmered back to the Resistance just as they embarked on another all-out battle with Wyatt. He had been preoccupied, and something always seemed to get in the way of what he wanted to say to her.

So their relationship had been quiet, and filled not with flowery phrases and declarations of emotion, but with a sort of comfortable silence that comes from knowing the other person well enough that words are truly superfluous.

There were so many things he never said. He never told her about his childhood, about the way he used to chase Wyatt around the neighborhood demanding that his older brother play with him. He never told her about his grandfather or all the nights he spent with that old man, laughing and talking and crying and sharing all his thoughts. He never told her about his mother, about how she died, about the lifeless eyes and the feelings of horror that welled up inside him.

And she never told him about her family, about her clan, about Phoenix trainings or all the targets she had killed before coming to the Resistance.

In the silence that existed between the two of them, he thought that saying those things aloud would ruin the beauty of what they had, the gentle completeness that enveloped them and held them together despite all the trials they had to face.

He never told her he wanted to start a family with her. He never told her that he saw them married, several years from now, with children and a white-picket fence, and maybe even a dog.

She hated dogs. She probably hated white-picket fences too, now that he thought about it, but he'd never asked her. He'd always thought that there would be time, that at some future point they could sit down and discuss what this engagement ring symbolized, what they meant to each other.

And so he had let the silence rest between them. At the time, it had sounded like love and happiness and hope and commitment and a refusal to back down no matter what.

Now, standing in the empty cave, staring around him and listening to the heavy silence that filled the air, he knew all his earlier assumptions were wrong. Silence did not sound like anything good or blissful.

Silence sounded like regret.


	20. All the Broken Pieces

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: So sorry for the long delay. I was out of town for a week, and that meant no computer, no internet, and no writing. This is pretty much the final chapter, and there will be an epilogue posted in the next couple of days.

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Chapter Twenty: All The Broken Pieces

_Underworld, present day_

Most demons knew when to avoid the Halliwell Manor. You did not want to cross paths with Piper Halliwell on the anniversary of her older sister's death. You did not want to cross paths with the now oldest Charmed One when she was in a particularly bad mood. And you certainly didn't want to cross paths with the witch when she had issues she needed to work out.

Of course, when Piper Halliwell came looking for you, it was hard to escape that legendary temper.

The moment the orbs had coalesced to form Paige, Phoebe, and Piper, the eldest was already stepping away from her sisters and attacking the demons in the cave. She flicked her wrists, causing several demons to burst into flames and explode into thousands of tiny particles. She threw potions, watching as demons screamed in agony and turned into dust. And she kicked, punched, hit, and did whatever necessary to quell the rage that burned within, pumping through her veins like some sort of poisonous blood.

By the time she stopped her vanquishing spree, only three demons remained in the cave. The first, Orexio, stood before them, still covered by his dark cloak. Behind him, two other demons, both powerful enough to have so far evaded Piper's attack, stood in defensive positions, clearly ready to follow whatever instructions their leader gave.

Orexio clapped as he walked forward. "Well, well, well," he said mockingly, his voice echoing through the cave, "that _was_ impressive. I see you've had quite the power boost since we last met."

Piper extended her hands and flicked her wrists, attacking Orexio. He rolled his eyes and waved his hand, deflecting the attack with an unmistakably smug air.

"Did you really think that would work?" he asked sarcastically. "Face it, you don't have the power to defeat me." He lifted one hand and conjured a fireball, bouncing it in the air. "And here I was hoping you'd put up a little more of a fight. Oh, well…"

Paige waved her hand suddenly. "Fireball!" she called, and redirected the deadly mass of flames back towards one of Orexio's two remaining henchman. The demon barely had time to duck out of the way as the fireball whipped past his head, and before he could recover from the surprise of the attack, Piper had flicked her wrists at him and he shrieked and burst into tiny particles.

Particles that hovered in the air for a moment before condensing and reforming back into the demon.

The demon stepped forward menacingly, but Orexio held him back with a raised hand.

"No," he said, "I want this one for myself." He eyed Piper and remarked casually, "In this particular clan that I've decided to work with, the more energy a demon absorbs, the more powerful they become. These two remaining demons have absorbed the life force from countless witches. I doubt you would be able to survive against them, let alone against me."

"Actually," Phoebe said, "we've seen the future. And we do more than just survive against you." She threw a potion at his feet, and Orexio cried out in pain as flames engulfed his body. Still, he was able to push the fire away and finally destroy it, leaving himself unmarked by the attack.

"That potions won't vanquish me," Orexio said as he warily eyed the bottles that Piper and Paige were holding.

"No?" Piper retorted. "How can you be so sure?" She threw hers at Orexio as well, but he sent a burst of fire from his palm, destroying the potion bottle before it could shatter on his form. Then he charged forward, so quickly that Piper barely had time to react, and he stood in front of her, a knife pressed against her throat.

Bizarrely, she thought of Bianca and the way the Phoenix had held an athame to her throat before taking Chris back to the future.

That thought automatically lead to memories of the pain in Chris' eyes as he stared at his dead fiancée, and a sudden rush of anger gave Piper the strength she needed to fight brutally, kicking Orexio in the stomach and the chest, shoving him to the floor.

Phoebe rushed forward and grabbed Piper, pulling her away from the demon before she could do anymore damage. As she did so, she thought morbidly to herself that even throughout the fight, Orexio's hood had stayed up, hiding his face from their view.

Orexio rose to his feet, the two demons standing in front of him protectively. Their positions were exactly mirrored by the Charmed Ones who stood, Piper in the center, Paige and Phoebe on either side of her, watching their enemies closely.

"You fight well," Orexio said mockingly. "But you still can't possibly hope to win."

"Let's suppose we don't," Phoebe said finally, breaking the tense silence. "Let's imagine that you do kill us. What do you think that will gain you? A word to the wise, demon, but women don't like being accused of horrible deeds. You really think Lavinia will take you back?"

Although they could not see his eyes, Phoebe had the strangest sensation, as though she was watching his eyes widen. Her empathy power kicking in, she felt the demon's shock and surprise.

"How do you know about that?" Orexio demanded angrily.

Phoebe smirked. "We know quite a lot about you, actually," she answered. "And a lot about Lavinia also."

"Do you now?" Orexio snarled. "Well, then you know I'm dangerous to cross, and I don't take kindly to people who talk about Lavinia in such a manner."

It was Piper's turn to laugh, a smirk spreading across her face. "Didn't realize you cared so much for her," she taunted. "After all, you certainly didn't care in the past." She tilted her head to the side and asked, "Was it really true that when she looked at you, she saw the Source?"

With a howl of rage, Orexio let loose a burst of fire that threatened to overwhelm the entire cave and destroy everything in it. Piper barely managed to raise her hands in time to freeze the fire before it collided with them. Paige and Phoebe both jumped backwards, and Piper felt her hair singe slightly, but they were still alive.

The two demons behind Orexio were frozen, but he was not. He stared at Piper, and even though the darkness of his hood, they could see the fury in his eyes.

"Now, contrary to what you obviously seem to think, we didn't come down here to fight you," Piper said after Paige had used her powers to orb the frozen flames from the cave. "We came to strike a truce with you."

"And why would I agree to that?" Orexio sneered.

Piper gave him a thin smile. "Because Lavinia was the one who asked us to do this, and I'm fairly certain you'd want to agree to her requests as well. If you think you have any chance of getting her back."

"I don't believe you," Orexio hissed.

Piper shrugged. "You can believe whatever you want, right now I don't really care. But before you try to kill us and force us to vanquish you, why don't you try to track down Lavinia. She's a seer, isn't she? She can look into her pool and tell you what the outcome of our battle would be, and trust me, I don't think you're going to like what she sees."

"And while you're at it, ask her to show you a bit of the future we saw," Phoebe suggested. "I'm sure there will be a few things there to interest her, like how much she actually did love you, even if she wouldn't admit it. And how much it hurt when we vanquished you."

Orexio didn't say anything.

"You both made mistakes. It happens. Deal with it," Paige snapped. She crossed her arms over her chest and thought idly how strange it was that she was giving love advice to a demon. Now she truly had seen everything there was to see.

"We could strike a truce for now," Orexio said coldly, "but it wouldn't last. We'll be fighting in the future, no matter what. That's the way Good and Evil work." But he was clearly intrigued by their words, by what it would mean for him and his future with Lavinia.

"Probably," Piper consented. "But I'm not concerned about that future. I'm concerned about right here, right now. Do we have a deal?" She knew it would be dangerous to just let him go. Once he and Lavinia joined forces again, they would be a force to be reckoned with. But she had seen the future her son could create, and she would do anything in the world to stop it. After all, anything would be better than that hell on Earth.

Orexio stared at them all, and the cave was filled with silence.

* * *

_San Francisco Arboretum, present day_

The entire situation felt like a very bad sense of déjà vu.

Chris had orbed to the arboretum, hoping to be alone to sort out his thoughts, and Leo had been there, waiting for him. Exactly the same way he had orbed to the arboretum to sort out of his thoughts after Bianca's initial appearance in the past, and she had been there, waiting for him.

And although his first impulse had been to orb away, Leo had reached out and caught him through his orbs, pulling him back into this place, and pushing him down onto the bench. Which, of course, reminded him of the time that Leo, newly returned from Valhalla, had attached Chris by grabbing his orbs and throwing him into the wall.

He wondered if Leo knew who he was. He must, because there was no way that Piper would keep that a secret. Which meant he was now not dealing with Leo the Elder, but Leo the father.

He wasn't sure if he could handle that.

He last time he had seen Leo the father, had been only a few days before the man's death at the hands of several demons and dark-lighters. He had dropped by the Manor to visit for a few minutes on his way to helping some charge in some other part of the world, and his visit had degenerated, as they often did, into arguments between him and Piper. He was never home enough, Piper had said, and Leo had argued that he couldn't just turn his back on his charges or the world and Chris had left the room, not liking the raised voices and the angry looks.

No, he did not want to see Leo the father, again.

There was too much pain there, too much anger and grief and guilt and heartbreak.

"Your mother and I were very worried," Leo said, taking a seat next to Chris on the bench. "Piper's pretty close to panic. We couldn't sense you or find you with scrying and Orexio's still out there."

Chris bit his lip and struggled to keep from rolling his eyes. Somehow, this sounded more like the talk you give your sixteen-year-old son after he breaks curfew. Not the talk you give a neurotic future white-lighter who just happens to be your son as well.

"I can take care of myself," he snapped. "You can tell Piper she doesn't need to worry." This was Piper, after all, and not Mom.

Leo gave a wry smile. "Why don't you tell her that yourself," he challenged, and for a moment, both father and son were caught in the same thought, that Piper would worry regardless of what anyone told her.

Chris looked away and shook his head.

"I heard about Bianca. I'm sorry," Leo offered, unsure what else to say to console his son. He didn't know Bianca, and although he was not wild about the fact that his son had obviously fallen for an incredibly dangerous assassin, he could not deny that Chris clearly loved the woman. And judging from Piper's story, Bianca had loved Chris enough to sacrifice her life to save him.

"Yeah," Chris gave a choked, almost hysterical laugh, "me, too." He wasn't crying, but his eyes burned and his throat felt clogged, as though all the words would get stuck.

"You need to come back to the Manor," Leo said. "We can help you…" He paused, eyes raking over Chris' torn clothing and bruised body. "Vanquishing demons isn't the best way to deal with your grief."

Chris snorted in disbelief and snapped, "Oh, and my family is a good roll-model for that? Piper turned into a Fury after Prue died, Phoebe turned into a mermaid after she vanquished Cole, and Paige went psycho after Kyle…" He trailed of suddenly. "Forget I said that," he said quickly.

"Who's Kyle?" Leo asked, blinking in confusion.

"No one," Chris retorted, rising to his feet. "Look, I appreciate the concern or whatever it is you're showing right now, but I don't need you. I need to just… be alone."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Leo answered, reaching out for Chris' arm before he could orb away. As Chris tried to throw him off, the Elder rose to his feet, and tightened his grip. "Chris, listen to me. You need to listen to me."

"Why? So you can tell me that everything is going to be okay, and that this wasn't my fault? Newsflash, Leo, you don't know a _thing_ about what happened or what my world has been like. You _didn't_ live in it, and you _didn't_ see the person you loved, the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with _killed_ by your own _brother_!" Chris snapped, face flushing with grief and fury and a torrent of many other emotions he couldn't quite identify. He knew, intellectually, that this wasn't Leo's fault. None of it was, not really. But somehow, it still felt like it was his fault, like he hadn't protected his precious Twice Blessed Child well enough, and the world had gone to hell. He should have stopped yelling, should have listened to what his father had to say, but he just couldn't.

Not now, and maybe not ever.

"I wasn't going to tell you any of those," Leo protested, denying Chris' words. "Look, if something happened to Piper, I would feel exactly the same way you feel now. And it hurts, I know it hurts so much that you want the world to end. But it gets better, with time. It might sound clichéd but it's true. It gets better." He had to raise his voice to be heard over the shouting of his own son, but he wanted Chris to listen, wanted him to at least hear the words.

"I don't care what you think," Chris spat. "Why don't you just run back to your precious family and leave me the hell alone, _Dad_?"

"Because you're my son," Leo answered evenly. "I love you."

Chris rolled his eyes. "You hate me, Leo, remember? I'm not your son, not yet, and all I've ever been to you or the sisters is an annoying, neurotic, nuisances. Well, I'm sorry that wanting to stop your precious firstborn from becoming the evil overlord of the world is an _inconvenience_ to you all, but now I've finally caved to your requests to leave you alone. Shouldn't you be happy? Go back and celebrate with Piper!" His voice was dripping with sarcasm when he spoke, but behind the annoyance and anger, Leo could sense pain as well.

"I don't hate you," Leo argued, "and I told you that even before I knew you were my son."

Chris rubbed his eyes, finally yanking his arm out of Leo's grip, and thought over what Leo had said. It was true, he remembered that conversation well. It was here, in this same arboretum, back before he gained his memories. And Leo had told him that they had started off on the wrong foot, but that he did trust him…

No, he thought savagely, pushing the thought away. He wouldn't dwell on it. This wasn't his family, not really. Not yet.

"Whatever, Leo," he said. His emotions were under control now, back in the locked and chained box, unable to escape. The grief, the pain, the anger, gone now, replaced with the same unemotional, determined, confidence. "I still need to be alone. I still have a job to do."

Leo watched the change in Chris' expression, and sighed. He knew perfectly well that Chris had never been one to share his emotions. It was most likely a side-effect of the world he had grown up in, but Leo had simply never seen Chris fall apart or break down or do anything even remotely human. In fact, as he thought over the months since Chris had come into their lives, he realized that he barely even remembered seeing Chris laugh.

"Fine," he said. "But I still think you should come back to the Manor. Won't it be easier to find the threat to Wyatt if you have the Book?"

"You wouldn't by any chance have the ulterior motive of trapping me in the Manor with Piper?" Chris asked pointedly, eyes narrowing. The last thing he wanted right now was to have his mother faun over him.

No, he thought again, not his mother. Piper, not Mom. _Piper_.

"Please, Chris," Leo said softly, "I'm your father and I only want…"

"Well, you make a pretty lousy father," Chris snapped before he could stop himself. The look of heartbreak on Leo's face was suddenly more than he could bear, and he looked away. He hadn't meant to say the words, but they'd come out before he could think enough to keep his mouth shut.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Leo asked, lowering his eyes to the ground. "Why did you send me to Valhalla?"

Chris bit his lip, wanting to tell Leo to get over himself, to tell him that he hadn't been sent to Valhalla because of some long-harbored grudge. He'd been sent there because he needed to be out of the way to make room for Chris as the sister's white-lighter. That was it.

"Go away, Leo," Chris said wearily. "I don't want to argue with you."

"Then come back to the Manor with me," Leo said, extending his hand, "and we'll stop arguing."

Chris stared at him, his mind racing. He didn't hate Leo, not really. One of the many side-effects of losing his memories was that he had been forced to fully confront the bits and pieces of emotions that still remained intact. He had not hated Leo then, he had simply felt… hurt.

He wanted to like Leo, and he wanted Leo to like him.

If he was truly honest with himself, he could admit that his dislike for Leo stemmed from so many other factors that were in no way Leo's fault. He hated how Leo had died, how his mother had fallen to pieces. He hated how Greg had come and put her back together when Chris himself was barely able to help. And although he didn't hate Greg, he hated the way Piper smiled at him.

He hated that Leo had wanted to save the world, and yet he couldn't even save himself. He hated the fact that Leo preached to him about the power of love and how precious life was and how together they were strong, united they were almost unstoppable. Because then they'd all died, each one disappearing, until Chris was left with just his two cousins and his evil brother and a world going down in flames.

He hated that Leo had constantly rushed off to help some other witch. He'd come whenever a family member was in danger, and he made it to many of the big events also. Birthdays, or school plays, or holidays. But the little things, family meals and bedtime stories… He hated that Leo missed those, and yet he also hated when Leo would come home, having been unable to save a charge, and the entire house would resonate with his grief and despair.

He hated that, through Leo's eyes, he caught his first glimpse of the unfairness of this world.

Leo had said that there was a bigger picture out there, and he had been correct in every single word. And Chris hated that, hated it with a passion. He hated the Greater Good and the Bigger Picture and Fate and Destiny. And he hated the Elders and all their plans, even if they were able to see beyond what mere humans could see.

It was hard to die, Chris knew, and probably incredibly painful. He doubted that his mother and aunts enjoyed being Up There, watching the world, unable to interfere, unable to save their families from the pain that was being inflicted upon them. But it was hard, also, to lose someone, to be left behind as everyone you loved just faded away.

He hated that Leo had died, that he'd left them all.

But he didn't hate Leo, not really.

He took Leo's hand and the two of them orbed away.

* * *

_Manor, present day_

Piper stood over the crib, watching Wyatt as he slept peacefully. His eyes were shut, his small chest rising and falling with every breath she took. She smiled to herself, a sad smile filled with the knowledge of what the future would bring. Every time Chris said the words _Future Consequences_, she had wanted to blow him up. But now that she knew about the future, she wasn't so sure she wanted that knowledge.

The quiet chimes of orbing caught her attention, and she turned around, fully prepared to whisper angrily at whoever was orbing in here. Didn't they know it might wake Wyatt?

But then the orbs coalesced into Leo and Chris, and whatever she was going to say died on her lips.

Chris looked past her, towards the sleeping toddler. His eyes were no longer as dark as they had been when he first arrived in the attic that afternoon. The rage and hatred was gone, replaced by a weary, almost exhausted expression. He took a stumbling step towards Wyatt, and Piper and Leo both reached out automatically, as though to catch him, should he fall.

Chris froze, then turned sharply away. "I need to look at the Book," he said, and pushed past his parents and out of the room.

Piper watched him go, eyes filling with tears. "He hates me," she whispered, walking from the room, Leo trailing behind. "He really hates me." All the things Cole had said to her were forgotten now. Chris wouldn't even look her in the eye, and that was more than she could handle. Her own son hated her.

"He doesn't hate you," Leo answered, although, of course, he had no way of knowing how Chris actually felt about her. But he simply couldn't imagine anyone hating Piper, couldn't imagine that her sons wouldn't adore her the way he did.

Piper looked up at him, her gaze hard and filled with anger and loathing, "How could he not?" she asked, and Leo realized the disgust in her voice was aimed more at herself than at anyone else. "I'm his mother, and I treated him like a nuisance, like someone who doesn't even matter."

"You didn't even know who he was," Leo argued rationally.

"I should have," Piper answered stubbornly, and walked from the room. In the hallway, she glanced towards the stairs that lead to the attic. She wanted to go after Chris, wanted to talk to him. But she was unsure and afraid. How could she get him to open up to her when she didn't even know a thing about him?

Leo stepped into the hallway. "Don't push him," he advised, seeing the torn look on Piper's face and correctly interpreting its meaning. "Just… ask him if he wants to talk, but let him make the decision. Don't push him." The last thing he wanted was for anyone to push Chris right now, for fear that they would simply push him away.

Piper nodded, then walked slowly up the stairs. She reached the attic door and leaned against it, drawing a deep breath. It was ironic, in a way. She could walk into a room of demons and start attacking without a second thought, but the idea of talking to her own son left her weak in the knees and tongue-tied.

She stepped into the room.

Chris was standing at the Book, hunched over it, his eyes glued to the page. He glanced up at her, and an unreadable expression crossed his face, before he turned his attention back to the Book. His hair, a little uneven and longer than she would have liked, fell over his forehead and almost touched his eyes. He tapped his fingers as he thought, still avoiding looking at her.

"What are you looking for?" Piper asked, feeling it was the safest topic at the moment. She wanted to rush to him, to hug him, to tell him that they would make everything better. But how could she? She didn't know him at all, and judging by the way he shot her apprehensive glances, he didn't want to be in the same room as her. His fiancée had just died, and she couldn't comfort him. Her own son, and she couldn't help him grieve.

"Whoever is after Wyatt," Chris answered with a shrug. "I couldn't find anything in the Underworld, so I'm looking for new leads." His words sounded rehearsed.

"Chris, why don't you take a break for a moment?" Piper suggested. "I can make you some tea and you can relax."

Chris looked up at her sharply. "I didn't come here to relax."

"Just taking a few moments off from work isn't going to cause the end of the world," Piper countered, and the moment she said the words, she wished she hadn't.

Chris jerked, turning away from her, from the Book. A fleeting expression of pain reflected in his eyes, and he said in a hoarse voice, "It might." He was thinking of Bianca, and Piper wondered once again what had transpired between the two while Chris was with Wyatt.

"Bianca wouldn't have wanted you to fall apart, Chris," Piper said. "She'd wouldn't want…"

"You don't know that," Chris snarled, rounding on her with such a look of fury that Piper automatically raised her hands defensively, as though to freeze him. "You don't know anything about her!" Chris continued, ignoring Piper's poised hands or the look of sympathy in her eyes. "You couldn't possibly know what she would have wanted from me!"

Piper nodded and dropped her hands. "I'm sorry," she said, hesitantly, diffidently. "I just… I just want to help you."

"Help me find the demon after Wyatt," Chris answered, walking back to the Book. "Help me remove the threat and the world will be a better place. The future will be a better place." Wyatt would be good, his family would be alive, and Bianca would be there.

Piper ran a hand through her hair, then nodded. "Do you have any leads?" she asked. She didn't know what else to do, how else to get through to him, and right now she would take anything as long as it was an excuse to stay in the same room with him. Besides, he wouldn't give in that easily. He had her stubbornness.

He was a Halliwell, after all.

"Not yet," Chris said, giving her a look of mild surprise, clearly not having expected her to cave that quickly. "I'm still looking."

Piper crossed the floor and joined him in front of the Book. She noticed how he stepped slightly to the right, moving discreetly away from her. She inhaled slowly, forcing herself to keep the tears of frustration at bay.

The Book was open to the section about Goblins. She stared at it, memories of their first meeting coming to mind. He'd stood in this same spot, and she walked through that same door, and yet it felt like that conversation had happened in a different world.

One where everything was so much more simple.

"So, what happens with the Goblins in the future?" Piper asked casually, running her hand over the old parchment. "Why did you tell us we needed to update that section?"

Chris wrinkled his nose. "I can't give you any specifics," he replied in a business-like manner. "Just be careful and don't trust them. It gets ugly."

"If it gets ugly, why can't you tell us something to help us fight?" Piper asked cautiously, knowing she was pressing her luck.

Chris gave her a long, searching look, then said, "Some things you need to figure out for yourself."

"Like your identity?" Piper asked before she could stop herself, and once again, she regretted the words as they spilled from her mouth. Chris turned his attention back to the Book, refusing to meet her gaze, and began to flip through the pages, scanning each entry quickly.

Piper reached out and placed a hand on the open page of the Book, preventing Chris from turning the page. "Look, Chris, I'm sorry. I just… I don't understand why you felt that you needed to hide this. I don't know why you hate me so much, but I want to…"

"I don't hate you," Chris interrupted automatically. He didn't. Not at all, not in any way. There was nothing Piper could have ever said or done that would have made him hate her.

Ever.

Piper shook her head. "Chris, it's okay to feel whatever it is you are feeling," she murmured gently, reaching up and brushing away a few of his long strands of hair. He caught her hand midair and stepped away from her, and she sighed. "Chris, please…"

He didn't hate her. He loved her, loved her so much.

But no, he didn't love her. Not this woman standing in front of him. This wasn't Mom, this was Piper, and for the sake of his own sanity, he had to keep the two separate in his mind. He couldn't come back to this time when she was so alive and so strong and not be moved by the fact that he could once again stare into her eyes and hear her gentle voice. She could tell him that everything was going to be alright and he would believe her. She could tell him that she would take care of him, she would protect him, and he would believe her.

But only if she was Mom. If she wasn't Mom, if she was just Piper, then he could go about his mission and ignore every emotion in his body that was screaming at him to spend time with her, to forget everything but the possibility of just sitting next to her and listening to the rise and fall of her voice. If she was just Piper, then he could be just Chris, and he could still have the strength to do this.

"You're my son," Piper said, and Chris felt his mouth go dry.

"I don't hate you, Piper," Chris answered, even though he could tell by the look in her eyes that she didn't believe him.

"I love you," Piper answered.

Chris didn't say anything. He looked back down at the Book, and felt his resolve slowly crumbling. It was hard to keep the lines straight in his mind, hard to keep the two versions of this woman separate when Piper stood before him and stared at him with Mom's love in her eyes.

In the future, Cole would have been there to tell him what to do. Daryl would have been there to offer him advice. Melinda and Henry would have been there to tease him mercilessly but still commiserate with his dilemma.

He wasn't in the future.

He was in the past, and he didn't have any of them, and he didn't have Bianca, and he had no idea what to do.

The lines were blurred, and he struggled in vain to put them back together but this woman was his mother and he couldn't look at her and think anything else.

"They attack Paige," he said finally.

Piper stared at him as though he had grown an extra head. "What?" she asked, clearly having no idea where his seemingly random comment came from.

"The goblins," Chris said. "They trick her into thinking that they are innocent magical beings who are being targeted by some new evil, and then they kidnap her and it all gets pretty ugly." He looked back at the Book and didn't see the look of relief and hope that washed through Piper's features. "But they aren't the ones after Wyatt, I don't think," he added.

"Okay," Piper said. She lifted her hand from the Book and allowed him to turn the page. They stood, side-by-side, flipping through the pages of the old family heirloom, looking for clues.

Which was how Paige, Phoebe, and Leo found them when they arrived in the attic, hours later.

* * *

_ Manor, present day_

Sometime later that night, the three Charmed Ones and Leo all gathered together in the sunroom, holding mugs of tea and wearing serious expressions on their faces. Chris had left, insisting that he preferred to sleep at P3, and although his rejection had almost driven Piper to tears, nothing anyone said would change the stubborn witch-lighter's mind. The silence that reigned now in the manor was almost oppressive.

Finally, Piper voiced the troubled thoughts that had plagued her since discovering Chris' identity. "Do you think we only love him because he's family? Was Cole right about that?"

"Cole is never right about anything," Paige answered automatically, even though she knew the words weren't true.

Phoebe murmured softly, "He's been more right than we have lately."

"Who'd have thought a demon would know more about morals than a Halliwell?" Piper asked, her tone filled with disgust. How could she reconcile this all in her mind? How could she have ever believed that her own personal life was more important than the world?

How could she have not recognized Chris as her own son?

"I wonder what is going to happen to all of them," Phoebe muttered, rubbing her head with one hand. The lingering effects of the empathy-migraine had not left, and the headaches were getting annoying. "Wyatt still had Max when we left. And the Resistance… Melinda…"

"And Henry," Paige added automatically.

"When we save the future," Piper said staunchly, "they'll all be fine." She wasn't entirely sure if she even believed that, but she put on a brave face for her sisters because, as the eldest, that was simply what she was used to doing.

There was a silence, and then Piper said again, "Why didn't we like him before?"

"Because he was meddling with out lives," Leo answered, speaking up for the first time since they'd all sat down. "He didn't come to us as an innocent or a random stranger. He didn't even come as a normal white-lighter. He came as someone who was manipulating us for his own agenda, and since we didn't know what it was…" He trailed off and shook his head. "You did like him, Piper. In the beginning, before he tried so hard to get you to go on demon hunts all the time, before he got in the way of you wanting a normal life."

Piper gave Leo a watery smile, but still did not seem convinced. "I don't know, Leo," she murmured. "I just… I feel like such a horrible mother… like such a horrible person."

"You were protecting your family," Paige pointed out logically. "That suspicion is what has kept us alive, Piper, and safe from demons. Too many people have tried to worm their way into our lives and then taken advantage of us. You had to be careful. We all did."

"Remember when we were trying to restore Chris' memories, and we couldn't figure out why magic wouldn't work?" Phoebe asked suddenly. All eyes turned to her, and she continued, "Leo said it was because maybe it wasn't time yet, maybe there was a reason that this had happened. Maybe we had to learn something."

Paige nodded, understanding what Phoebe was getting at. "Maybe it wasn't all about Chris. Maybe other people needed to learn from his memory loss." She looked back at Piper. "We learned from it."

"Yeah, we learned that I am a horrible mother," Piper replied morosely. "One of my sons is evil and the other hates me."

"No," Leo countered, "we learned what could happen to us if we forget about our obligations to Good. You said that Wyatt appeared to be amoral, right? He turned his back on everything that we ever believed in, everything we fought for."

"Leo's right," Paige said slowly. "Wyatt… he seemed so upset at the ideas of Good and Evil. Like they didn't matter to him. If we let go of our Wiccan duties, we risk becoming like that. Like him."

"And we saw the good in Chris," Leo added. "Even before we knew who he was… seeing him without his memories made me realize that he's just a boy and… it was his hard life that had made him so secretive, so neurotic. But he wasn't a threat and he wasn't evil… He's just a boy. _Our_ boy."

"Cole said we grew up into amazing women, remember?" Paige chimed in, trying to cheer up Piper. "Remember, he said Chris loved you. Still loves you."

"Well, apparently I still made mistakes in terms of my future husband," Phoebe snapped.

"Wait, you didn't remarry Cole, did you?" Leo asked, suddenly aghast. Although Piper had provided him with most of the details, she hadn't explained exactly why Cole was a member of this Resistance. Was he part of their family again?

"No, but he might have been the better option," Phoebe muttered. A warning glare from Piper stopped Leo from asking more questions, and the room was still again.

"How did we make so many mistakes?" Piper asked, rising to her feet and starting to pace, a sure sign that she was upset.

"You're only human, Piper," Leo answered calmly. "People make mistakes."

Phoebe blinked at Leo's words, then said, "But it is like Cole said, we have another chance… a chance to get it right this time."

Piper shrugged. She looked as though she wanted to say something, but couldn't quite work up the nerve. Then, finally, she muttered in an embarrassed tone, "I want that normal life." Phoebe and Paige both looked at her, and she shrugged again. "I've seen what it can do to us… and to my sons. But I still… I want a normal life. A life without demons and fighting and constantly wondering when the next attack will be. I want that so much."

"It's only human to want that," Leo murmured, rising to his feet and moving to stand next to his ex-wife. He reached out to comfort her, a movement that would have been so natural had they still be married. His hand stopped moments away from her shoulder, suddenly unsure what to do. He looked away, and she lowered her eyes to the ground, upset, as he let his arm fall.

"I think it is okay if we continue to look for it," Paige ventured thoughtfully. "We can still seek that normal life… just as long as we don't ever forget that we have responsibilities." Even Chris had felt that way, to a certain extent. His relationship with Bianca was evidence that he had tried to find something happy, something normal, in his crazy life. He'd dreamt of a future with her, a future where they weren't always fighting for their lives. He'd dreamt of something nice and peaceful and normal… and he'd been willing to fight to the death for the chance to live out that dream.

"I agree," Phoebe said instantly. She closed her eyes, thinking of everything Cole had said. When had she decided he was no longer worth fighting for? And why had she come to that decision? He was a demon and he had betrayed her, had made mistakes, but then she had as well. And she loved Jason, she truly did, but… She had to lie around him, had to be someone she wasn't. She wouldn't have had to do that with Cole.

"But what if we don't get it right? What if we don't fix it?" Piper questioned, looking at both her sisters. "What makes you so sure we can fix any of this?" Her earlier determination was wearing off, and the thoughts of Chris and Wyatt and the future left her filled with fear and doubt.

"We will save the future," Leo replied, his voice filled with promise. "Chris didn't go through all of this just for us to fail."

"Are you sure?" Piper asked bitterly. "Because so far we haven't figured anything out. And the only thing Chris has to show for all his effort is a dead fiancée."

Slowly, Leo reached out and laid his hands on Piper's shoulders, and she rested her head against his chest.

"Piper, listen to me. Wyatt isn't going to turn evil. We aren't going to let it happen, not this time. And you have to believe that. Because if you don't believe in yourself, you won't be able to fight whatever is after this family."

"I just… I just want my sons to be safe."

"I know," Leo answered, "I do, too. And they will be. We won't let them get hurt. Not this time. It's rare to be given a second chance, but we have one now, and I won't let it pass us by."


	21. Over and Over Again

Title: The Nature of Memory

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Alright, here we are, at the end of the story. This is just a little bit of an epilogue to tie things together. I hope you all enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Summary: When Chris loses his memories, it's up to the sisters to try to help him. But when a familiar stranger comes to visit, can Chris remember his past before it kills him?

* * *

Epilogue: Over and Over Again

There was no happy ending for Chris Perry. He didn't confess his deep love for his mother, didn't tell his father that he never really hated him, didn't laugh and joke with his aunts. He shared those emotions in brief looks, caught only by the closest observers; in the way he watched Piper move about the kitchen, in the way he begrudgingly worked with his father, in the way he "accidentally" let slip information about Henry and Melinda. But he couldn't share his innermost thoughts, because that simply wasn't the person he was, and nothing would ever change that.

There was no happy ending for Chris Perry. He didn't give up, not even at the very end when the pain in his stomach was the only indication that he hadn't died yet. He didn't give up, ever, because there was still something driving him forward, something forcing him not to stop, not even to relax.

There was no happy ending for Chris Perry.

But there was a happy ending for Chris Halliwell.

* * *

_Wyatt's Apartment, 2025 (changed future)_

Wyatt opened his bleary eyes and yawned at the last vestiges of sleep passed away. He blinked once or twice, trying to shake the strange sensation from his mind. Something was different, somehow, but he couldn't figure out what it was. It was like he was forgetting something, or maybe it was that he was finally remembering something…

He just didn't know what it was.

* * *

_Manor, 2025_

"Okay, so what do you think of this one?" Melinda asked, holding up a black belt with a silver buckle. A pile of shopping bags littered the ground at her feet, and all the clothing she had bought was scattered across the floor and furniture of the sunroom.

Chris squinted at the belt in Melinda's hand, then glanced down at the one she was wearing. "How is that any different from the belt you have on now?" he asked in confusion.

Melinda looked down, then rolled her eyes. "Chris, the belt I have on now has an elongated circle buckle. This belt that I just bought has an oval buckle. They're totally different."

Chris shook his head. "They're both black with silver buckles. Silver buckles in the shape of ovals."

"No," Melinda corrected patiently, giving her cousin an exasperated look, "one is _oval_ and one is _elongated circle_."

Chris blinked. "Is there a difference?"

Melinda gave a huff of impatience and was about to protest the stupidity of all men when a ripple of air signaled the arrival of Chris' fiancée. The Phoenix took one look at the belt in Melinda's hand and exclaimed, "Oh, that is adorable! Where did you get it?"

"It's exactly the same as the one she's wearing," Chris interrupted, glancing from Melinda to Bianca.

Bianca frowned at the belt on Melinda's waist. "No," she answered, shaking her head, "that's elongated circle. The one she's holding is oval. Totally different."

"I give up," Chris muttered, shaking his head in despair.

"What do you give up on?" a voice asked, and Henry Jr. walked into the room.

"Women," Chris replied. "They're all insane. Stay away from them, kid. They're trouble, I mean it. Save yourself while you still have a chance."

Henry grinned a little, then turned to Melinda and said, "Aunt Piper let your Mom cook."

Melinda groaned. "Seriously? Is she out of her mind? The last time anyone let Mom cook, we almost burnt down the entire house. Plus, the food attacked us! Mom finds a way to bring these things to life and make them want to kill us."

"I hate to break this to you, sis," another voice said, and a girl a few years younger than Melinda appeared next to Henry Jr. "but your cooking isn't actually any better." She smiled, swatting brown hair out of her doe-eyes.

"That's not true, Patience!" Melinda retorted hotly.

"Uh… yeah it is," Chris joined in. "Remember that time you tried to make soup and Wyatt thought it was a vanquishing potion?"

"If I recall correctly, that stuff could have served as a vanquishing potion," Bianca quipped, giving Melinda a teasing grin.

Melinda replied with a pout, "Well, fine. Maybe I inherited Mom's lack of cooking ability. But it's not like any of us are as good as Aunt Piper."

"Chris is," Patience pointed out fairly. "On the other hand, Wyatt's the worst of any of us, so between the two of them, they average out to being mediocre."

"But Chris is a good cook," Bianca murmured, leaning in to kiss the witch-lighter. "And I expect home-cooked breakfasts in bed every single day after we're married," she added.

Henry Jr. reached across and patted Chris on the arm, throwing back his cousin's earlier words, "Women are trouble, Chris. Save yourself while you still can."

Leo poked his head out of the kitchen. "Hey, kids," he called, " we're starting dinner." His eyes settled on Bianca, and he said, "Oh, you made it. Chris said he wasn't sure if you were going to get away from your work in time."

"It's a Halliwell family dinner," Bianca answered. "It's _Piper's_ cooking. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

As they all made their way into the kitchen, Chris turned to Melinda and asked in an undertone, "Where is your Dad? He's not here yet."

Melinda's face hardened somewhat, but she replied in an even tone, "I don't think he's coming tonight." He hadn't come to these family dinners in a while, and obviously his deteriorating relationship with Phoebe was placing a strain on Melinda and Patience.

Chris reached out and draped an arm over his younger cousin's shoulder. She smiled gratefully at his silent show of support.

* * *

_Underworld, 2025_

"My mom is so going to kill you," Chris remarked as he pulled Phoebe out of the way of yet another fireball. The clan of demons they had accidentally stumbled upon had not been pleased by the operation, and had also managed to quickly erect an anti-orbing spell over the cave, cutting off the two Halliwells' only means of escape.

"Me?" Phoebe asked, redirecting a fireball with her empathy. "Why me?"

"Because you're older, Aunt Phoebe. You are supposed to be the responsible one," Chris answered, pausing long enough to smirk at his aunt before launching another telekinetic attack on the rapidly approaching demons.

"It was your idea to track that warlock who attacked you," Phoebe countered. She levitated and kicked one of the demon's in the head, sending him flying back into several others. They fell to a tangled heap on the floor, and Phoebe landed easily back on the ground.

"True," Chris agreed, "but you should have known better than to let me do that. Especially without knowing if I would need Wyatt or the Power of Three."

"Oh, don't worry about it, kid," a voice said, and a figured stepped out of the wall behind them. "Your mother knows Phoebe well enough to know responsibility isn't one of her strong points." Then, without warning, he reached out and grabbed Phoebe and Chris by the arm and shimmered the two of them out of the cave and away from the danger.

They reappeared in another part of the Underworld, and Phoebe pulled away from their mysterious rescuer, a look of shock on her face. "Cole?" she gasped.

"In the flesh," the half-demon replied with his trademark smirk.

* * *

_Chris and Bianca's Apartment, 2025_

Three sets of blue and white lights danced in front of Chris and Bianca as they sat at the kitchen table, eating lunch. Chris looked up in mild surprise, having clearly not expected visitors, but the lights faded and he smiled in surprise at the unexpected company.

"Who is Cole Turner?" one of the girls asked without pausing for pleasantries, "and why is Mom throwing a fit about him being back?"

Chris frowned at the girl for a moment, then looked past her to the other identical twin. Switching his gaze back to the first girl, he determined that she must be Helen, and answered, "Cole Turner is the human form of a demonic mercenary that Aunt Phoebe used to be in love with."

The other twin, Patty, looked at Chris in shock. Next to her, the last of the three visitors, Henry Jr., let his mouth fall open in surprise as well. Helen seemed mildly startled, but said nothing.

"Aunt Paige never really liked Cole," Chris continued calmly, as though not realizing the information he was imparting to his three cousins was particularly surprising. "So that's why she's having a fit about him being back." Then he paused with a contemplative look on his face before adding, "But for some reason, my Mom is actually sort of happy to see him."

"Aunt Piper is happy to see a demon?" Henry Jr. asked, bewildered.

"Uh… yeah," Chris replied, shaking his head.

Helen took a seat across from Chris. Folding her arms over her chest, she said, "So… my half-angel mother doesn't like Aunt Phoebe's half-demon boyfriend?"

"They aren't dating _now_," Chris replied, stressing the last word. "Although… they did used to be married, I think."

"Married?" Henry Jr. sputtered.

"So, my half-angel mother doesn't like Aunt Phoebe's half-demon ex-husband?" Patty said, leaning against the seat Helen was sitting on.

Bianca stared at the four of them and shook her head. "God, your family is messed up."

"And yet you still want to marry Chris," Helen pointed out. "Well, I did always wonder about your sanity."

"Funny, very funny," Bianca deadpanned. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she rose to her feet and said with a sigh, "Well, I hate to break up the party, but I have to get going. My clan doesn't like it when I show up late too our meetings, especially now that my mother…" She trailed off. Even after all these years, it was hard to think those thoughts, hard to reconcile herself to the fact that her mother was gone.

"Picking the next target?" Henry Jr. teased. He knew that the Phoenixes, although still elite, were nowhere near as active as they used to be. Times had changed, and the world was a more peaceful place, allowing neutral clans such as the Phoenixes to stay out of the conflict more than they had in the past.

Bianca grinned as she answered, "Something like that. So watch your back, kid. You might be next."

"Aunt Phoebe married a demon and then a cupid, Aunt Piper married a white-lighter-turned-Elder-turned-Avatar-turned mortal, and now Chris is marrying a reformed assassin witch," Patty mused to herself. Glancing at Bianca, she said, "You were right, this family really is screwed up."

* * *

_Manor, 2025_

"So… remind me again why we're doing this?" Chris asked as he followed his father and uncle into the sunroom of the manor.

Leo turned stern eyes to his youngest son. "Chris, it has been a tradition since you were born that the men in this family spend at least one Sunday of the month watching some sports game."

"We have to keep up the tradition," Henry agreed. The parole officer smiled at his nephew as he took a seat on the sofa. "Otherwise we'd be overwhelmed by estrogen."

"Yeah, but Bianca was going to…"

"You see Bianca all the time," Henry Jr. interrupted, hurrying into the room and sitting down next to his father. "Don't you want to spend some time with us?"

"Watching hockey?" Chris asked. "I don't even like hockey. So, would I rather spend time with my father and annoying kid cousin watching a sport I don't like, or with my incredibly sexy fiancée…"

"Woah, stop right there," Leo said, holding up a hand. "I don't need to know what you and Bianca were planning on doing in your alone time, son."

"I'm not annoying," Henry Jr. added. "I can be annoying thought. I can spontaneously orb in on you and Bianca during whatever it is that you would be doing…" He grinned mischievously. "So you might want to rethink the whole bailing on us thing."

Chris laughed and telekinetically threw a pillow at his cousin. "Fair enough." He sat down next to his father. "And I suppose I do enjoy not being overrun by women."

"If you wanted to avoid women, you chose the wrong family to be born into," Leo muttered under his breath.

"Where's Wyatt?" Henry Jr. asked as his father grabbed the television remote and flipped through the channels.

Chris glanced over his shoulder. "He said he was going to grab some chips. I guess I'll go check to see that he's okay." He got up and walked back into the kitchen.

Truth be told, he did really enjoy these days. When he was little, his father would take him and Wyatt to the park on the weekends, to have some time with them away from the craziness of the manor. As they grew older, the trips to the park had morphed into trips to the baseball cages for batting practice, driving lessons, and finally monthly meetings to watch sports.

Those were some of his fondest memories of growing up, being able to spend time with his father, just hanging out and not doing anything particularly important.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sight of Wyatt, standing in the kitchen, rubbing his eyes wearily.

"You okay?" Chris asked in concern.

Wyatt grimaced. "I just… I've been having weird dreams for a few weeks," he said, "and they've been keeping me from sleeping. I guess I was more tired than I thought."

"Prophetic dreams?" Chris demanded, instantly concerned.

"I don't think so," Wyatt replied. "I don't really even remember them. It's just a haze, you know?" Chris didn't look convinced, but Wyatt insisted, "Really, it isn't anything magical. Nothing to worry about. I promise."

Before Wyatt could reply, a sparkle of orbs lit up the kitchen, and Helen appeared, bringing Melinda with her.

"You're not allowed here," Wyatt said instantly. "It's guys-only."

"I know," Melinda said, "but we need to grab a couple of potions ingredients neither Helen or I had."

"Are you going after someone?"

"Relax," Helen said, rolling her eyes at Wyatt. "We can take on a lower-level demon without the help of the almighty Twice Blessed."

Wyatt shook his head and retorted, "I was just asking." Then he yawned, and reached up to rub his eyes again.

In concern, Chris asked, "Are you sure you're okay? Maybe you should take a nap or something."

His question instantly caused an uproar from the two girls, and Helen launched herself onto Wyatt's arm and asked in a sing-song voice, "Oh, did you need a nap? Did the big boy get tired?"

Melinda smiled teasingly and, standing on her tiptoes, patted Wyatt on the head. "Are you all awake-y now, ickle Wyattkins?"

Helen promptly burst out laughing, and Wyatt gave her a look of such suffering that Chris began laughing as well. Wyatt pushed Melinda and Helen away from him and glared angrily at his brother. "Did you really need to bring that up?"

"I'm just worried…"

"I'm fine," Wyatt said gently, "completely and totally normal."

Chris grinned. "Well, that remains to be determined. Personally, I always thought you were a little… special?"

"Unique," Helen suggested.

"Different?" offered Melinda.

"How about just insane?" Chris finished. "I think insane is a good description."

"I'm the Twice Blessed, the Reincarnation of King Arthur, the Bearer of Excalibur, the Leader of the Magical World… and I'm getting teased by a my younger cousins and brother," Wyatt complained, sounding an awful lot like a petty toddler.

Helen and Melinda laughed, and Chris beckoned for Wyatt to follow him out of the kitchen.

"Hey," Wyatt said, catching Chris by the arm just before he walked out of the room. The younger witch-lighter paused and looked back, confusion etched into the lines in his forehead. Wyatt frowned, then said, "You know I would never hurt you, right?"

Chris' eyes widened slightly, then his forehead creased in concern. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Wyatt replied dismissively, suddenly feeling very foolish for his confession. "I'm fine. Just… woke up feeling weird this morning."

"Huh," Chris said with a shrug. "Must have been one hell of a dream."

Wyatt nodded, draping his arm over his brother's shoulders, and the two left the room.


End file.
